


Star Wars: The Force Ascends

by TheJediAvenger



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 02:42:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 55,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10630485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheJediAvenger/pseuds/TheJediAvenger
Summary: An AU sequel to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. (SPOILERS AHEAD/INSIDE!) After the destruction of both the New Republic and the First Order's Starkiller Base, the Resistance continues to thrive, Kylo Ren continues his training under Snoke, Finn is comatose, and Rey is humbling asking for Luke Skywalker to train her. However, another appears. One that could alter the fates of Jedi and Sith alike.





	1. "These are Your First Steps"

_"Truth enlightens the mind, but won't always bring happiness to your heart." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~The Hidden Enemy~_

* * *

 

She waited for him to do something, say anything. Yet, he just stood there with a look of slight perplexity. The wind blew off of the ocean and onto the tiny island, gently swaying the loose strands of Rey's hair in the breeze while causing Skywalker's Jedi robes to snap as well. She couldn't stand the silence between them anymore.

"My name is Rey." Her outstretched hand that was holding onto Luke's old lightsaber started to shake as her muscles in her arm began to tire. "I've come here to ask if you will teach me the ways of the Force. Please..."

Luke walked down from the small hill and stood in front of Rey. "May I see it?"

"Yes, of course." Rey  loosened her grip on the lightsaber, allowing Luke to take it gently out of her hand.

Luke ran his fingers over the hilt, gazing at the scratches that randomly rest on it. "Where did you find this?"

"It was hidden in a chest in Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana. I don't know where she got it from."

A slight smirk showed on Luke's face. "Even though I lost this a long time ago, I still remember the first time I held it in my hands."

"Really?" Rey's hazel eyes lit up. "Please, tell me about it! I want to hear all of the adventures you went on, all the discoveries you made, all the feats you accomplished!" She realized that she may be a bit too forceful. "If you want to that is. Y-you don't have to if you don't want to."

Luke couldn't help but chuckle at Rey. "It's alright, Rey. Tell you what. I'll tell you about my adventures if you will tell me about yours."

Rey's eager smile faded from her face. "You wouldn't want to hear my story. It's mostly dull, not as exciting as your life I'm sure."

"You shouldn't sell yourself short, Rey. I felt you awaken within the Force. Your journey led you to me, so I'm sure that you have at least **one** story to tell."

Rey's smile returned to her. "Well, I do have one."

Luke rested a hand on her shoulder. "Very well. Follow me." Luke handed his old lightsaber back to Rey. "We have some stories to tell."

* * *

 

Rey and Luke walked side-by-side as they made their way to a modestly-sized stone structure standing against several huge boulders. A couple of feet outside the structure was a small circle of stones that wall in several half-burnt sticks, twigs and dried-up grass.

Luke motioned for Rey to take a seat near the fire pit. She quickly took her staff off of her back and slipped off her pack as well before sitting down on the ground. Luke reacheed into his robes and pulled out the hilt of his current lightsaber. He flipped it on, the green blade igniting with a hiss. Rey watched in fascination as he points the tip of the lightsaber into the pit, causing some twigs to burst into several tiny flickers of flame. Luke turned off his lightsaber and put it back under his robes before taking a seat next to Rey's right side.

"Since I have more stories to tell, I'll start off and we will go back or forth, unless you want to do it a different way."

"No." Rey could feel the adrenaline pumping throughout her body. She was about to hear the real stories about Luke's life, directly from the Jedi himself. "I like that plan. You start."

"Very well. I guess I'll start from the beginning, which was when I was nineteen years old. My Uncle and I bought these two droids from some Jawas."

* * *

 

"I was five years old when I was left on Jakku. Every day, I would leave a mark on the wall of a trashed AT-AT that I lived in, believing that my family would come back for me. But out of those fourteen years that I was on that world, they never did."

Luke sighed. "I'm sorry about you and your family."

"I understand feeling sorry for me but...why my family?"

Luke gave her a soft smile. "Because they missed who you grew up to be."

Rey smiled back at him. "Thanks."

* * *

 

"I was in the trench. I had switched off my targeting computer and our base back on Yavin 4 started to panic. I assured them everything was alright, even though I was about to get blasted from behind. Before any of their shots could hit me, the enemy got shot from above by Han and Chewbacca. They saved my life, which allowed me to use the Force to sense the perfect time to shoot the proton torpedoes into the ventilation shaft. The Death Star exploded into space debris. The first step to restoring freedom to the galaxy had been accomplished."

"That is amazing! Was there a celebration of some kind?" Rey asked like a child who was on a grand, imaginative adventure.

"Yes. There was. All of us left gathered together on Yavin 4. Han, Chewbacca, and I walked down the middle of the room and Leia placed medallions on both Han's shoulders and mine. Then everyone cheered at us. I had never heard such a loud crowd in my life."

"Wait a moment." Rey said with a quizzical look.

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"You and Han received medals, right?"

"Yes. That's right." Luke confirmed.

"What about Chewbacca? Did he get one as well?"

Luke was about to answer but stopped short. Something clicked in his mind. "No...no he didn't."

"Why not?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

* * *

 

"I was just eating one of my rations when I heard the distress of a droid. I grabbed my staff and ran towards the noise. That's when I met BB-8. I freed him and told him the direction of the nearest settlement. However, BB wanted to stay beside me. I caved and said that he could stay the night."

"Some droids have a way of being very persuasive."

"It wasn't persuasive. It was more "being cute and acting innocent" that made me give in." Rey smiled to herself as she remembered the events that led her to the very spot she was at. "Anyway, that droid is the one that got me involved in something bigger; it eventually brought me here."

"Please don't leave anything out. I want to hear everything you went through and what you felt every step of the way."

Rey nodded. "Of course, and you will continue to do the same?"

"Absolutely."

* * *

 

Rey and Luke exchanged their life stories next to the fire all through the night. Neither one of them grew weary. The stories they told kept the other intrigued, even more so with Rey. The man she believed to be a myth was very much real, and she was sitting right next to him. As the sun began to rise out across the ocean's horizon, Rey's and Luke's life had been shown in a new light. They both had the utmost respect for what each other had gone through and how they felt during those times. However, Rey knew that Luke had avoided a certain part of his life. She had seen a piece of it. She hoped that Luke would shine a light on her vision, that she received when she first touched Luke's old lightsaber.

"Um... Master Jedi Skywalker-"

Luke chuckled at her. "Please, you can just call me Luke."

"Oh...okay. Luke, I have a question that I would love for you to explain."

"Anything for you, Rey. What's on your mind?"

Rey, for the first time since meeting Luke, looked away from him and gazed upon the fire, its yellow-orange flames flickering in and out of existence. "When I first touched your old lightsaber, I saw things. I think I saw you too. You looked as though you were...crying. "

"Rey..."

Rey kept her gaze on the crackling fire.

"Rey, look at me."

She gave in and looked at him with anxiety in her eyes. _Have I said something wrong? Maybe I'm asking for too much. I shouldn't have been so curious._ Instead of anger or disgust, Luke gazed at her just as he had throughout the whole night.

"It's alright. I said I would answer and explain your question. It's hard for me to think on those days, let alone tell them to someone. However, I will explain what you saw and heard. Before I do, what I might tell you will be...gruesome to say the least. You may not look at me or anything else the same way again."

Rey didn't waste a minute. "No matter how dark it may be, I need to know what I saw and who I heard. I'm ready to know."

Luke nodded solemnly. "Very well. Start from the beginning of your vision."

"The first thing I experienced were screams. My screams."


	2. A Burned Past

_To seek something is to believe in its possibility." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Front Runners~_

* * *

 

An X-Wing exited hyperspace above a desert planet. Inside the cockpit, Poe Dameron saw no First Order Star Destroyers in his sights or on the scanners. He didn't like it. He as used to the First Order beating him to the punch.

_Beep-boop-brrreeeeeppp?_

"No BB, this isn't Jakku again. This is Tatooine." Poe answered his little companion.

_Bbbeerrrppp-wwweee-beeep-eeeeerrrrrr._

"General Organa needs us to go to Luke Skywalker's old home and find anything that could be of use before the First Order finds it." Poe prepared to fly his X-Wing into Tatooine's atmosphere. "But we have a jump on the First Order. I think."

_Weeerrrrr?_

"That's right, BB-8. General Organa gave us the exact coordinates to Skywalker's old home. Hopefully, the First Order isn't down there."

_B-b-b-bbeeeerrrr-eerrrr. Teeeerrrrr-eeeeee?!_

"Yes, BB-8." Poe chuckled. "There's sand on Tatooine. Lots and lots of sand."

_Trrrrreeeeee-eeerrrrr._

"Well maybe the next planet we visit will be mostly forest or snow instead. Something that isn't so barren and dry."

Poe flew into Tatooine's dry atmosphere while punching in the exact coordinates to Luke Skywalker's old farm home. In the far distance, near the curvature of the planet, Poe's brown eyes saw Mos Eisley. When he was younger and when his mother was still alive, she would tell him stories of the Rebel Alliance and in several of those stories he would hear about all the backstabbing, two faced pirates, bounty hunters, and smugglers that would frequent the spaceport. He sighed in relief as his coordinates on the screen show him a flight path in the opposite direction.

_Thank goodness I won't have to deal with anyone in that spaceport._

His mind wandered from Mos Eisley to the mission that he was on, while still maintaining his flight path to Skywalker's old home. Something about this mission was odd; and Poe couldn't figure out an answer as to why.

_Why would General Organa send me to her brother's old home and tell me to find whatever is useful? How would she know that I'm capable of finding the right things to take? She knows better what we would need from that place. Although, if she were to come and if the First Order was nearby, she would be in serious danger. Still, I would have thought she would have been more specific on what exactly she would want me to pick up. Hopefully, once I land there and start looking around, it will become clear to me._

Three monotone beeps sounded in the cockpit, pulling Poe from his thoughts. The navigational computer alerted him that his destination is only several klicks ahead. He double-checked his scanners. No other aircraft appeared on the radar. He looked in all possible directions out of his cockpit. Not one aircraft was in his sights in the air or down below on the desert sands.

"I don't see any First Order troops or fleet anywhere, BB. We may not be able to use it, but maybe the Force is with us on this one."

_Beep-de._

Poe piloted his X-Wing downwards and landed a couple hundred yards from the old moisture farm. The cover of his cockpit hissed open as he pulled off his helmet, setting in down on the floor of the X-Wing. Poe got out of his X-Wing and double-checked himself, making sure he had everything that he needed.

"Blaster. Check. Com-Link. Check. Light. Check." Poe reached into the inside of his new jacket, which looked identical to his old one that he had given to Finn. He pulled out another com and walked over to the side of his X-Wing, looking up at his droid. "Hey BB, keep an eye out for anything or anyone that you see and alert me. Okay, buddy?" He threw up the com-link for BB-8 to catch with one of his apparatuses.

_Bbbiiirrrr-eeeepppp._

"Thanks." Poe walked from his X-Wing, heading towards the doorway of the only standing structure for many klicks around.

As he approached the open doorway he noticed two stones structure just behind the building. His curiosity compelled him to examine them more closely. He walked up to him and soon realized what they were. He knelt in front of them and read the one on the left first.

Owen Lars

Loving Husband

and

Honest Worker

May He Rest with His Love in Peace

Poe's spirit went from being curious to slightly depressed as he gazed upon the right tombstone. It's identical to the other, except for the words etched into the stone slab.

Beru Lars

Loving Wife

and

Serene Mediator

May She Rest with Her Love in Peace

Poe let a sigh escape from his lips as he stood up from the graves. However, his curiosity peaked up again as he saw that each of the tombstones have a single Donar flower lying on top of hem. Being extra gentle, he picked up one of the purple blossoms by its stem and brought it closer to look at. A sweet smell wafted towards him as a desert breeze passed by.

 _Considering these two flowers look as though they've just been picked, they must have been placed here recently. Very recently. Hopefully, I just missed whoever put them here._ Poe respectively placed the flower back near the grave, then walked back to the dome of the moisture farm.

As Poe put one foot inside of the main entry dome he immediately saw that the interior was unusually dark, considering that both of Tatooine's suns were both shining in the desert sky. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a miniature glowrod, flicking it on. He raised an eyebrow as he eyed the interior. The ceiling, walls, and the floor were completely charred. He saw several burnt pieces of what appeared to have been furniture, knick knacks, and other homely items that were too burnt to distinguish their once unique form.

They are nothing more than charcoal remnants from an old life.

"What?" Poe walked deeper into the old, burnt-out home. He soon found a stairwell that led outside into the main living pit, a crater that housed a courtyard connected to several other rooms on the homestead. All of the doorways in Poe's sight had scotch markings streaking out from the entrances.

"This...this doesn't make sense." Poe walked through every doorway, quickly glancing through the rooms for anything that he could use to make sense out of this mission, let alone salvage anything for General Organa. His quick search through the whole place though turned up nothing but more questions.

As he entered once again into the main living pit, his mind tried to figure out how, in any way, this mission from General Organa was necessary.

"Okay, just think this through. There's got to be a reason General Organa sent me here." He found himself standing in the middle of the courtyard as he put everything he knew together. He turned off the glowrod he had used to search the homestead and put it away, not needing its light anymore.

"General Organa gave me this mission. Told me that I would have to do this alone, since the spy who made contact stated that First Order troops were already here. 'I know that you will be able to keep a low profile while completing this mission'. That is what she said. However, neither my scanners or my own eyes saw any trace of spacecraft or troopers. When I got here I noticed the tombstones. However the tombstones each had a freshly picked flower on them. In this heat, they will wither in hours, a day tops. That means somebody was here very recently. When I entered through the dome and all of the other rooms, I saw this place was burnt to hell. Nothing here is salvageable. Someone deliberately set this place on fire..."

Poe walked over to the nearest scorch mark that was near a doorway and ran his fingers across it. He pulled his hand back to find that there was no soot on his fingers. "This fire happened a while ago." Poe pinched the bridge of his nose while letting out a frustrated sigh. All the information he knew was not connecting together. "Why am I here?"

"That's an excellent question."

A voice from behind him snapped Poe's focus back to reality as he quickly reached for his blaster.

"You so much as touch your blaster and I will fire a shot through your skull. And believe me, I won't miss from this distance."

Poe stopped short and decided it would be best to put his hands up.

"Turn around slowly."

Poe obeyed and turned to face the person and the blaster pointed a few feet from his face. Poe knew instantly for that they are neither with the Resistance or the First Order. "Who are you?"


	3. From the Ashes

"You must trust in others or success is impossible." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Point of No Return~

* * *

 Poe looked over the stranger in the hopes of finding something that could distinguish who they could be. He immediate noted that she was as tall as him. Her straight blonde hair reached down to her shoulders. He then noticed her attire. She sported a modest blue, unbuttoned blazer that complimented her blue-grey eyes. Underneath the blazer was a white, long-sleeved shirt. The white sleeves were slightly longer than the sleeves of the blazer, allowing the white clothing to peak out of the blazer near her wrists. Poe reached her midsection and saw the empty holster strapped to the right side of her dark brown belt. On her left side was a small, rectangular pouch, its contents unknown to him. Her pants were a slightly darker shade of blue than her blazer. Finally, he saw her footwear, which consisted of average yet well-worn in leather boots.

"Who I am is none of your business. However, you being here is mine." She too looked him over  in an attempt to figure out who he could be. "Who are you?"

Her question was forceful, even though she asked it in a very gentle voice. Poe's mind became slightly perplexed. "Me? I'm..." Poe struggled to fight off uttering his name but it was as though something was influencing him to answer the question. He could not fight it. "I'm Poe Dameron."

His answer made her lower her blaster as a look of unbelievable disappointment and frustration covered her face. "Poe Dameron as in 'The best fighter pilot for the Resistance: Poe Dameron'?!"  She holstered her blaster.

"Yeah..." He lowered his left hand slowly while waving at her with his right. "Hello. Now that I introduced, it's only fair that you do too."

Instead of the answer he wanted, he was immediately forced to turn around, pushed through the doorway and up the flight of stairs leading back to the main dome entrance.

"Out!"

"Out?" Poe tried to stop her from pushing her further up the stairs but surprisingly she was strong enough to keep forcing him up the stairway. "Wait a minute!" Poe attempted to brace himself firmly by grabbing onto the railings on either side of him but his grip only slowed his ascent.

"No. No minute. No second. No waiting at all. Listen carefully. You will leave Tatooine. No, correction. You will leave this whole system and go back to the Resistance, where you came from." She managed to push Poe all the way up the stairs and into the main dome. With one final shove, she knocked Poe out the doorway of the dome, which caused Poe to nearly stumble to the ground.

Poe, more confused than ever, turned around to face her. "Okay, okay. Look. I've come a long way to get to this place. Nothing is adding up. If you truly didn't like the Resistance, you would have shot me."

"I still might." She threatened.

"Please, I need answers. You probably want some from me too."

"Not really." She gazed into his eyes, trying to read his intentions. He looked like a child that was lost and confused. She could easily just threaten him to leave with his life and then she would not have to deal with him or anything he would bring towards her. However, she couldn't resist his look of desperation. She gave in with a sigh. _I never really could turn away anyone that needed some help._

"You're lucky that I'm nice."

Poe couldn't help but roll his eyes at her, but he instantly regained a sincere composure once he noticed that she had furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Tell you what. I'll answer your questions as best as possible, if you promise to leave as fast as possible from this system and never return. You or the Resistance. Do we have a deal?"

Seeing no better way of clearing the confusion in this mission Poe gave her a nod. "Deal." Poe walked back to her until he was a few feet away.

"Go ahead and ask what you need to know."

"Alright." Poe pointed to the tombstone that are several yards from his left. "Those graves each have a flower on them. Did you put them there?"

"I did." She casually leaned against the open doorway. "I needed to. I'm assuming this was their home at one point. A couple of years ago, I lost my home and needed shelter. I found this place along with the graves. Every month when I go into Mos Eisley to get supplies I get a huge bundle of Donar flowers. I place one on each grave every morning. They don't last long against this planet's weather but it's all I can do to show appreciation and respect to them since I'm living here."

Poe mentally nodded at her answer. "Okay, next question. Do you know who or what burned the inside of this place? It looks like the fire happened some time ago."

"That I don't have an answer for. This place is almost exactly how I found it. I only cleaned up one room down below for me to live in."

"What? I was in every room. All of them were scorched beyond repair."

"You thought you went into every room. You missed one." A cocky smile appeared on her face. "I watched you walk by it several times before sneaking up on you."

Poe mentally nodded at this too. "Huh."

"Any more questions?"

"Yes, but not too many more."

"Good. The sooner you leave, the better it'll be for both of us."

"Before I ask this next one, I need to ask you something pertaining to the question. It's not personal."

She raised an questionable eyebrow at him. "Okay..."

"Do you know that Luke Skywalker used to live here?"

Her breath caught in her throat as she started to feel the adrenaline rush into her veins. "Wh-what? Luke Skywalker? **The** Luke Skywalker. The one that blew up the Death Star, defeated the Emperor, tried to train a new era of Jedi but then disappeared? **That** Luke Skywalker?!"

"Yes. **That** Luke Skywalker."

She quickly walked out of the doorway, moving to stand off to the right of Poe as she gazed upon the main dome of the farm. Her eyes litup like a little child's when they discovered something that changes how they see the world. "Whoa. What are the odds?"

"Odds of what?" Poe asked.

She kept her gaze on the dome. "The odds of this place being the one I chose to live in just so happens to be the same place where Luke Skywalker once lived. It makes the galaxy feel smaller than it really is."

"When you put it that way, it actually does make the galaxy feel smaller." Poe continued in fulfilling the deal between them. "Since you now know that he lived here, here is the question."

She looked away from the dome and at Poe.

"When you first lived here, was there anything here that was still usable in any way?"

She shakes her head. "No. Everything that was in this place was burned to hell. Whoever torched this place was thorough. They had to have gone through it with a flamethrower of some kind to get to the underground rooms that are connected to the courtyard below."

Poe rested his hands on his hips. "That doesn't make any sense. I'm missing something."

The blonde seemed to ignore his statement as she asked a quetion. "Any other questions you need to ask?"

"Just one. However, it is a personal one. You don't have to answer it if you don't want to. What's your name?" Poe hoped that she will say her name. However, her gaze left his face and went behind him. She squinted at something in the distance. "What?" He turned around to look in the same direction. "What are you looking-"

She threw up a hand, signaling him to stop speaking. He did so as she tried to determine what was in the distance. Her eyes widen at a mental realization as she roughly grabbed Poe by his jacket, yanking him closer to her face. "Were you followed here?!"

"No!" Poe says with certainty. "I saw nothing on my scanner or with my own eyes both above and on this planet."

"Really?" She turned him around and pointed off towards the binary, sunset horizon. "Then how come there are First Order tie-fighters coming this way?!" She let go of his jacket and ran into the dome. "WE'VE GOT TO LEAVE NOW!"

"Wait!" Poe wanted to chase her down but looked at the orange-painted horizon to double-check for any tie-fighter. He didn't not spot anything flying in the distance. Poe quickly pulled out the com-link from his jacket pocket as he ran through the dome and down the stairs to look for the woman. "BB-8, you read me?" There is a brief moment of silence before his metallic friend responses through the com-link.

_Beeeerrrrriiiiiippppp._

"Good. Listen. I need you to run the X-Wing's wide ranged scanners. Set them to the highest possible radius and tell me if it picks up anything." Poe reached the bottom of the steps. He looked around the courtyard, trying to find any sign of the blonde as he stayed on the com-link for any communication from BB-8.

_Teee -rrreee-eerr._

Poe made it back to the circular courtyard and noticed several indescribable charred items thrown to either side of an open , miniature hangar room. Inside he saw the woman rushing around to pick up a couple of items, throwing them into a dull green backpack. He quickly ran into the hangar. "This is the room that I missed?"

She stopped midstride. 'You're asking this now?! The First Order is flying here as we speak and your biggest concern is whether or not this was the room you missed searching?!" She rushed back to throwing more items into the backpack that was resting on an rather large object covered with a tan tarp.

"I don't know why you keep saying that the First Order is flying this way. I didn't see anything and my droid hasn't picked up anything on my X-Wing's scanners."

_BRRREEEEEEPPPPP! BEEE-REEE-EEEPPP! WEEE! WEEE! WEEERRRR!_

Poe's eyes widen as BB-8 spouts out information through the com-link. "Slow down, BB. I can't understand you."

_Brrreeeeeppppp! Beee-ree-eeeppp! Weee! Weee! Weeerrrr!_

"The scanners picked up three Tie-Fighters and their closing in fast?!" Poe repeated BB-8 to confirm he had heard his little friend correctly.

_BEEP!_

"Okay BB, I'm coming!" Before he could take a step, the woman grabbed his arm.

"You won't make back to your X-Wing fast enough." The whining sound of the Tie-Fighters reached both of their ears. "Call your droid down here."

"But-"

"Trust me on this."

Seeing no faster option, Poe held the transmit button down on his com-link. "Get out of there, BB and get down here!"

_Teeerrrreeeeeppppp!_

Poe stashed his com-link on the inside of his jacket as the blonde set the backpack full of various items onto the floor.  She quickly yanked off the tan tarp to reveal a fighter. However, this is no ordinary fighter. Ever since he was little, Poe would have his nose buried in old ship catalogs and databases, learning about many fighter classes and even a few cruisers that were used during the time of the infamous Clone Wars era. This fighter is no exception.

"That's...that's a Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor." He nearly mumbled the statement as he pointed to the newly rebuilt and refurbished, yellow-painted Jedi Starfighter.

She can't help but groan and roll her eyes at him. "You are too easily surprised by things, Dameron." She tossed her closed backpack onto the floor of the Starfighter. Then she walked over to the rear end of the fighter.

"Get over here and help me roll this into the courtyard so that we can get out of here before the First Order blasts us into oblivion."

Poe rushed over to her and helped her push the Starfighter, on a rolling platform, into the center of the courtyard. As they fully get the fighter out into the open area, an explosion was heard and felt through the ground by the two of them. Poe's X-Wing had been obliterated by the First Order Tie-Fighters.

 _BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEEEEPPPP!_  BB-8 franticly rolled down the last step and into the courtyard. The droid didn't go unnoticed by the woman.

"Is that a BB unit?! I've never actually seen one before."Her eyes widen as she noted the droid's style of body and mobility.  

"Who's easily surprised now?" Poe mocked at her interest in BB-8.

"Shut it, Dameron or I'll leave your sorry hide here on this desert rock." She quickly climbed into the front seat of the Starfighter as BB rolled up to Poe.

_Bereerp-eee-rrrreeppprrr? Brbrbrbrbreeee-eee-rrrr._

"I'll explain everything later, buddy. Right now, we've got to go."

"There's a place for your BB unit to sit on the other side of this cockpit." She pointed over on the other side of the Starfighter.

"Get in, BB." Poe crawled in behind the front seat to see that there was another seat inside the fighter. "You added an extra seat."

"And a couple of other upgrades." She looked over to see Poe's droid roll into the empty slot next to her cockpit. She flipped a switch to close the cockpit and lock Poe's droid into place, then proceeds to fasten herself in while Poe did the same. "Hang on you two. Once I clear the courtyard, I'm giving it as much as she's got."

She started to pilot the Starfighter straight up off of the courtyard floor. Loose dust swirled below the fighter as she carefully maneuvered the fighter upwards out of the courtyard. As the nose of the Starfighter cleared the top of the courtyard, both her and Poe caught a glimpse of the three Tie-Fighters circling back towards them.

She pulled back on the controls as the fighter's fuel poured into the engine. The fighter takes off at unusually high velocity, causing her to get pushed back into her chair while causing Poe to nearly hit his head on the controls in front of him. Luckily he had fastened himself into the back seat.

As the Starfighter flew away from the old moisture farm, the three Tie-Fighters quickly gained ground on their target. Each of them prepared to fire at the old Starfighter as their red-light targeting scanners attempted to lock onto the maneuvering aircraft. Two of them heard their leader through the com in their helmets.

"Target that ship's primary engines enough to damage them. We need whoever is in that that ship alive so that they can give the Order any information we need. Is that understood?"  

Both stormtrooper pilots acknowledged their leader in unison. "Yes, Captain Phasma."

Poe saw several controls in front of him, including a yoke that possessed different modern units of  tech. His curiosity got the better of him, since he wasn't flying the Starfighter. Pressing a red switch near his right side did nothing that that he noticed. However, the green switch he flipped next did. It activated a holographic targeting system in front of his face that completely surrounded everywhere he turned his head. His jaw dropped in awe at how advanced and detailed all of the information was on the system. It gave him vivid information on the three Tie-Fighters that were several hundred yards behind them: their speed, a scan of their blueprints that highlight key weak spots, and a running algorithm program to determine who was the leading fighter and to determine their next aerial gesture and attack.

"This is amazing." He whispersedto himself.

"Did you turn on my targeting system?!" She yelled back to Poe while dodging the incoming fire from the Tie-Fighters. 

Poe could hear the slight aggravation in her voice. "I...uh...bumped the switch." He made no attempt to shut it off. He instead grabbed onto the yoke and began to figure out the targeting system.

"Sure you did." She made the Starfighter spin to dodge another hail of blaster fire from the First Order fighters. "Listen that targeting system isn't calibrated correctly so it won't be on target. It's pointless to use it."

BB-8 took action as he tapped into the ship's electrical and programmed functions. _Beep-beep-breep! Teerrreee-teeee-beeee._

The blonde saw BB-8 altering some of the functions of the targeting system on one of the screens in front of her. "You can get into my programming?" She veered downward right towards a canyon as her past memories start to flash in her mind. BB-8 had made her remember her old friend. She became saddened by the similarity but didn't allow it to show through her words. "You're a very special, droid."

_Be-be-eeettt._

"BB-8? Huh. Alright, BB-8, recalibrate the targeting system and help out Poe as best you can. I'm going to try to outmaneuver them in this canyon."

Poe's breath caught in this throat. "C-canyon?"

"Beggar's Canyon." She stated.

"Isn't that a little risky?"

"Scared, Dameron?"

"A little bit, yes."

She smirked to herself. "You just worry about shooting down those Tie-Fighter and leave the flying to me."

Poe let out a sigh disappointment as he waited for BB-8 to calibrate the holographic targeting system to full functionality. It wasn't that he didn't trust her flying skills; It's because he hated being in a ship that he wasn't piloting for himself. He rarely was a passenger, let alone one that enjoyed being along for the ride.

_It's not your ship, Poe. Maybe after all of this is said and done, she'll let you fly this old piece of work, just for a little bit._

_Teeeerrreeeeerrrr-bbbeeeeee-eee-rrrrr._ BB-8 happily exclaimed that he had successfully recalibrated the targeting system.

"Thanks, buddy."  Poe began to steer the yoke into the right position. The targeting system shouted out alert tones typing out messages as Poe targeted the Tie-fighter on their leader's left. It locked on and Poe fired the blaster canon, that emerged from the bottom of the Starfighter. The Tie-Fighter got hit instantly near the axle of its left wing.

The stranger dove the Starfighter into Beggar's Canyon while Poe relocked onto the same Tie-Fighter and fired again. This time, the Tie-Fighter's left wing came apart, causing it to spin out of control down towards the Starfighter. As the Starfighter reached closer to the canyon floor, she yanked back on the controls. The Starfighter responded immediately, ascending upwards. The out-of-control Tie-Fighter kept descending until it crashed in a ball of fire on the canyon floor. Only one stormtrooper and Captain Phasma remained to pursue the Starfighter.

"One is down." Poe stated sincerely.

_Beep-brrrr!_

"Nice." The blonde piloted closer towards the one side of the canyon. "Allow me to take out one." She jerked the controls to the right then quickly ascended out of the canyon. The stormtrooper pilot wasn't able to react fast enough. He crashed his ship into the side of the canyon, exploding into shards of scrap metal.

Poe was speechless. _She's an amazing pilot!_ His eyes focused on the remaining Tie-Fighter. He moved the holographic crosshairs over the target and fired. The Tie-Fighter dodged the blaster fire with ease. He glared at the enemy, determined to bring them down. He fired again. Still, the First Order pilot dodged it skillfully as it fired back at the Starfighter. The blonde dodged every shot from the enemy, since she did not possess any shields on her Starfighter yet.

"Dameron, there's a red switch on the back right of the yoke. Lock onto the Tie-Fighter and press it."

Poe felt for the switch on the yoke. Once he found it, he kept his ring finger on it as he attempted to get the Tie-Fighter back into the crosshairs. The enemy ship was avoiding his targeting system. He couldn't put everyone in the Starfighter at risk longer than he has to. He decided to take the one risk he knows of. He stared at the holographic system and waitd for the Tie-Fighter to make its last move.

The Tie-Fighter swayed to the left. As it does so it flew into the crosshairs. Poe took the opportunity and flipped the switch on the back of the yoke. The blaster canon on the bottom of the Starfighter switched its blast shot to an eletrical shot. It shot out from the Starfighter on a collision course for its target.

Captain Phasma saw the electric shot heading towards her fighter and acted immediately to avoid it. Unfortunately the shot was too close and too fast to avoid. The electrical pulse clipped the lower half of the cockpit, causing the fighter's standard flight controls to malfunction.

"Blast it!" Even though angered by the successful hit, she remained collective and calm. Her training was her life and she would live it every moment. The Captain pulled back on the yoke as far as it will go while activating the emergency spoilers on the wings of her Tie-Fighter. Her Tie-Fighter soon crashed onto the desert floor. It swayed nearly out of control before eventually sliding to a stop. She gazed out of the cracked cockpit glass to see the yellow Starfighter ascending out of her sight.

She activated the com-system in her helmet to transmit to the mobile base in Mos Eisley. "This is Captain Phasma. Send a retrieval shuttle to the coordinates to follow immediately. I must inform General Hux on my assignment."

"Yes, Captain!" A regular First Order soldier answered on the other end.

Phasma rose up from her seat and bent down to pick up her blaster from the floor of her crashed ship. She flipped it around and used the butt of the rifle to knock out the cracked glass of her Tie-Fighter. She jumped out of the ship and waited in silence for her retrieval shuttle to arrive..

 

* * *

 

The Starfighter traveled up out of Tatooine's dry atmosphere. This of course peaked Poe's curiosity. "Um, I don't mean to be a backseat pilot, but shouldn't we find a ship that has a hyperdrive engine?"

"Don't worry. I installed and modified a hyperdrive engine to work with my Starfighter." She began to prepare for a jump into hyperspace by adjusting the systems through several switches and levers. "Besides, if we were to go back and into any populated area, the First Order would surely be informed and we would be dead...or worse."

"I suppose you have a good point there. You flying skills are amazing by the way."

"You think so? That means something coming from the mouth of the 'best pilot in the resistance'." She said happily.

"I see my reputation is precedes me all the way out here." 

"Well when you manage to blow up the First Order's planetary weapon, word travels faster than lightspeed about the people who did it, especially the leader of the squadron. By the way, you are amazing in your firing skills. You took them out pretty fast."

"That was nothing. You took out one just by outmaneuvering them on purpose. Even that is hard for me to do."

She smiled. She hadn't received a positive compliment for years. "So, since I'm the pilot of this fighter, I will need coordinates to get you back to the Resistance."

"Well, I can't exactly give you the coordinates. We had to move our base of operations since the First Order knew where we were located. However, if you will allow BB-8 to access your hyperdrive system, he can put in the coordinates without having you see them."

She mentally nodded at Poe's suggestion. "I understand. Go ahead BB-8. Put in the coordinates then activate the hyperdrive when you're ready."

 _Breeepppree-beeeerrr._ BB-8 got to work on entering in the coordinates just as the Starfighter left Tatooine's atmosphere.

Since they were out of harm's way for now, Poe thought upon his mission. His journey to this desert world didn't yield anything that General Organa ordered him to find. Instead it was already burned to ash. _All that I found out of all of this is...her. Maybe she will be able to give General Organa more information than I was able to find._ After running through the events before the First Order Tie-Fighters arrived above the old moisture farm, he remembered something else that didn't get resolved.

"Hey um, back on Tatooine, when we were doing the whole question thing, I asked you that personal question but you didn't answer it, since the First Order was flying our way. Like I said, you don't have to answer if-"

"Angela."

Poe gathered his thoughts. "Angela?"

"Yes. You can call me Angela." Her voice was sincere yet friendly.

 _Beeep-bbbeeeerrrr. Ttttrreeeee-eeeee._ BB-8 informed them that he was finished and activated the hyperdrive. The yellow Starfighter left Tatooine and headed off towards its set destination.


	4. Shadows of the Past

_"Balance is found in the one who faces his guilt." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Overlords~_

* * *

 The sun soon rose into the middle of the sky on the planet of Ahch-To. As the day reached its brightest point, so did the meaning of Rey's vision. Luke had made her vision have some form of meaning to her. He explained how she had seen some events of the past and soon to be future, like her and Kylo Ren meeting in a snowy area. Luke also told her about the voices she had heard. The first she had heard was Yoda. According to Luke, Yoda was one of the two Jedi that had taught him about some lightsaber tactics as well as Force skills. Luke proceeded to tell her the other voice she had heard, from her description, was from his other mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi. After Luke explained every part of her vision to her, Rey felt conflicted. The voices were not the problem. Witnessing her younger self being left behind on Jakku and seeing the future confrontation with Kylo Ren, which had come to pass, weren't the problem either. Her issue was with who Kylo Ren truly is. Luke knew that she deserved to know who he was and where he had come from...and how he was responsible. "I can't believe it." Rey stared at her feet as she kicked a pebble near the fire pit.

"Which part?"

"The part about Kylo." The more she thought about him and his actions, the more she became confused and upset.

"You said that his real name was Ben, and that Han Solo and General Organa are his father and mother. How twisted do you have to be to slaughter so many people that you knew for years, side with the First Order, and kill your own father?!" She clenched her hands into fists as her thoughts about Ben became tainted in anger.

"Parents that loved him." _Mine left me._

"Friends." _I was alone every day and night on that blasted planet._

"A legendary teacher to guide him." _I had to learn from experience, mostly mistakes._

"And he threw it all away for his own selfish reasons." _I hate him for what he has done to the galaxy, his own family...and to Finn._

"It's my fault."

Rey's anger immediately dissolved away and was replaced with bewilderment as she looked at Luke. "What do you mean? I've heard many stories about you. All of them pictured you as not only a great pilot and a Jedi with immense knowledge in many things but also compassionate beyond compare. You did everything right. Ben is the one at fault for his own actions, not you."

"That's not how I see it. I could have prevented it. All of it." Luke's breathing became shaky as he started to lose his composure.

Rey noticed this and moved closer to Luke. She took his hands and held them in her own. She felt as though Luke had been struggling with the past, just like she had been when she kept waiting for her parents to return for her. Nobody had been there to help her through the hard days. She was determined for nobody else she met to feel that type of pain on their own.

"You can't keep putting all of this on yourself. Tell me why you believe you're guilty, why you could have prevented it. You don't have to keep the past buried anymore. Let's face it...together."

Luke sighed with a nod. "The scene in your vision, with Kylo and the Knights of Ren, is where I could have ended it. All of it. Instead, I cared too much."

* * *

 

  _After the destruction of the second Death Star and the death of the Emperor, I set out to rebuild the Jedi Order, while my sister Leia decided to help restore the Republic that had been during the time of the Clone Wars. Even though she, like me, is strong with the Force, she decided not to take a solely Jedi path. I respected that._

_I soon set off across the galaxy, with R2 at my side. My search for the next generation of Jedi had begun. For the next couple of years I had traveled to many different worlds, met many different races of beings. It seemed that every world I traveled to had at least one or two beings that were gifted with the Force. Some even had a strong connection and had a steady control of its power. When I found somebody who wished to learn more and study in the ways of the Force, I would take them to Jandoon, which was out of reach of any Imperial remnants. It was during these few years that one Force user stood out among the rest of them._

_Her name was Mara. She had been the Emperor's personal assassin. Apparently during his last living moments, he had telepathically told Mara to fulfill his last assignment for her, which was to kill me. Instead she decided to renounce her past and humbly asked if I would help her learn about the Light Side of the Force. I didn't even hesitate to accept her, even though she had told me about every malicious action she had carried out._

_After being in several life threatening missions together, we discovered that we shared the same feelings for her each, which were more than just bring best friends. Once we talked it over several times, we decided to get married. It was small but lovely, exactly what both of us wanted. Afterwards we took a short honeymoon, leaving the eldest students in charge of the others. When our personal vacation was almost finished, we decided to visit Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and Ben on Hosnian Prime. They were happy to have us, as they always had been. After telling them the good news, Han and Leia decided to have a private meal that would be just for us. I can remember everything that was said that day._

* * *

 

_"I'm so glad that you finally decided to ask her to marry you." Leia said with a smile._

_"Leia, please." Luke felt embarrassed by her saying it with Mara sitting right beside him. Of course Mara laughed at her husband's subtle embarrassment._

_"She's got a point, kid. How long has it been since you two first met? Two...three years?" Han asked._

_"Five." Leia corrected him. She then stared down at the table for a couple of seconds, like she remembered something. "Ben, are you finished eating?"_

_Ben was seven at the time. So young and innocent. Having a nephew made Luke feel old but his energetic spirit made up for it tenfold. "Yes Mom."_

_"How about you go play with your toys for a while?"_

_Ben nodded as he got up from the table. "Can Uncle Chewy come play with me?"_

_"I guess that would be up to your Uncle Chewy." Han smiled at him._

_**Ggggrrrraaaa-aaaarrrrr.** _

_"Yay!" Ben took Chewie's hand as he led the Wookiee to his room. "Let's play Galactic Rebels* **[i]**." _

_Once Ben and Chewbacca had left the room Luke knew Leia would have something to say to him. He could tell by how she had been acting since Mara and he had first arrived._

_"Luke, I have a favor to ask."_

_Being her brother Luke quickly accepted the favor. "Of course, anything."_

_"Recently Ben has been able to use the Force. It's been simple things, like reaching for something far from him and it coming to him or simply feeling the presence of someone behind him, like when Han tries to sneak up from behind and give him a hug."_

_"My son always beats me to it, turns right around and gives me a hug first. That kid sure has a natural talent for the Force." Han stated this, proud that his boy could do this._

_"Which is why..." Leia and Han hold hands together as they make their decision final. "...we want you to train him, Luke."_

_It was no surprise to Luke. He knew the time would come when Ben would tap into the Force, in his own time. Luke felt slightly anxious that the day had come but his happiness about the situation well made up for it. He was going to get to teach his nephew about the Force._

_"I will gladly do it. It'll be nice to have Ben around as he learns more about the Force."_

_"We'll plan on visiting him quite regularly, of course. Wouldn't want him to think we just left him with his uncle and that we don't care for him." Leia stated._

_"That sounds wonderful." Luke was happy that they would visit their son regularly. He didn't want Ben to feel as though his parents didn't care for him._

* * *

 

_And so a few weeks later I picked up Ben and traveled back to Jandoon. Ben was a quick learner. He caught on to many skills that the rest of the students took months to even successful do it. He even asked me if his Aunt Mara could teach him every once in a while. I said he could, and both he and Mara were excited about it. And so for the next ten years I trained many to use the Force, telling them that they would be the ones to set the galaxy on a path to the future, to turn the galaxy back from the despair the Empire had brought upon it._

_Every month, just as they had promised to their son, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca would fly in and spend two whole days with Ben. Even though students typically practice their exercises every day, I gave Ben the whole time off. It was only fair to him since they were not around at any other time. Ben enjoyed that time with his family. When it was time for Han, Leia, and Chewbacca to leave, I would be with Ben to see them off. Every time they left Ben would give them all hugs, while receiving hugs and kisses from Han and Leia. Chewy on the other hand would give him a huge hug then ruffle his hair. Every time their ship ascended into the sky I could feel something change in Ben. It was very subtle and I never figured out what it exactly was, but it was there._

_Years passed. As Ben grew older, the visits from his family started to become less frequent. Leia tried her best to visit. However, her attempts were halted by either the Republic having issues in staying together and operating or through some other issue that had to be addressed immediately. Han and Chewie visited even less, though they tried as hard as Leia. They were the Resistance's main smuggler operators to move much need supplies for both the Resistance and the Republic to prosper and grow at a much needed, faster rate. However, their smuggling routes were usually compromised one way or another, thus slowing down or even completely stopping their smuggling attempts, which caused them to only get to visit Ben randomly._

_Because of the inability to visit Ben, I personally made sure to set aside time for just the two of us. Every night we would stay outside for a couple of hours and stare at the stars. Every so often, I would feel something different within Ben. It would only stay for a minute or two then leave. I could never figure out what it was and if I pried too far he would have sensed it. I didn't want to break his trust that he had with me._

* * *

_"Ben?"_

_"Yes Uncle Luke?"_

_"You know that you can talk to me about anything right? Whenever you feel something you don't like or just want to talk, you can just tell me and we'll talk about it in private. You know that, don't you?"_

_"...Of course I do."_

* * *

 

_He never did open up about anything. He kept his feelings locked away and to himself._

_And then, when he was eighteen, he disappeared. I'm not talking about just left the planet. I mean he was gone. I could no longer sense his presence anywhere, on Jandoon or the galaxy itself. I began to panic for both Ben and his parents' sake._

* * *

_"He's gone, Mara!"_

_"Luke..."_

_"I can't find him. I can't even sense him! How can he disappear like that?!"_

_"I should have spoken up to him. Maybe I could have figured out what was bothering him. Maybe I-"_

_Mara roughly grabbed Luke by his clothes and backhanded him across the face. It made come out of his insistent panicking ramblings. "Listen to me, farm boy!" Mara rested her hands on his shoulders. "Close your eyes."_

_"Mara-"_

_"Do it." She said this forcefully but gently like a mother to her child. Luke shut his sky blue eyes as he listened to his wife. "Now breath in slowly and hold it." He did so. "Now, let it out slowly." He breathed out as Mara embraced him. "It's alright, Luke. We'll find Ben and figure out what's going on. We'll bring him back home."_

* * *

 

_Mara already had a plan thought out and ready to use. First and foremost I contacted Han and Leia to tell them that I could not find Ben physically or through the Force. They were worried but had more composure than I did. They immediately went to work to find Ben one way while I went another._

_I followed Mara's plan. She would  stay on Jandoon and reassure the other students everything would be alright and that Ben would be found.  She continued to train and monitor the students while I went alone to search the galaxy, following any clue or rumor we heard that could have been about Ben. Not a single one of us could sense Ben anymore. I knew something was very wrong. I had known something was conflicting within Ben but I chose not to believe in it. Instead, I believed in Ben. Believed he would find the right path._

_Time felt like it had stopped from that day onward. However two years of searching, staying in contact with Mara, and deep meditation to sense Ben through the Force all turned up nothing._

_Then one day I received a transmission from Mara. She and a group of students were projected in front of me. They had their lightsabers drawn and were fighting an unknown group of assailants on Jandoon. Mara told me they needed me before the transmission cut out. I didn't waste a moment. I traveled through hyperspace back to Jandoon and quickly landed the spacecraft. I just hoped that I wasn't too late._

* * *

 

_Luke ran out of the spacecraft. He could sense Mara at the far end of the training field. The rain was relentless as it and the wind beat across the nighttime landscape of Jandoon. Luke wasn't hindered in the slightest. He could sense his wife getting tired. He had to find her. Fast._

_As he reached the opposite side of the training field his heart nearly stopped at the sight before him. The streaks of lightning across the night sky briefly outlined numerous dead bodies on the wet ground. His legs refuse to move as he saw his students lying dead on the drenched ground._

_"No...this can't be real. It can't!" Luke outstretched his hand trying to sense if anyone was still alive. Body after body was lifeless. The farther he walked, the more despair and fear enveloped him. As he reached the other side of the field, he felt someone was still alive just in front of him. He knew exactly who it was._

_"Mara!" Luke knelt beside her and slowly lifted her up just enough so that she was leaning against upright against him._

_"Mara, stay with me." He saw several cauterized cuts on Mara's arms, with one cut traveling from her lower right cheek to the middle of her forehead. However, it's the deep puncture wound in Mara's chest that concerned him the most. "I can fix this." He placed his left hand over her wound and tried his best to focus as he attempted to slowly heal her with the Force._

_"He was here."_

_Luke's breath stopped short. He knew by Mara's tone who she was referring to._

_"He did this. All of this."_

_He began to shake his head. He knew Mara was telling the truth to him but his heart could not take it. He didn't want to accept it now but he had to. Tears started to well up in his blue eyes but they were indistinguishable from the rain that was falling upon his face. As he closed his eyes in emotional pain and continued to attempt to heal Mara, she focused her strength to reach up and run her fingers through his wet, blond locks of hair._

_"Luke, Ben is not the Ben we kn-know. He...goes by Kylo Ren. He l-left to find you....kill you." Her eyes grew heavy as she saw her husband try to heal her and accept everything that was around him._

_"Mara...I...I'm sorry."_

_"Don't be." Her words were barely audible over the thunderstorm above them. "You did your best, farm...boy." She stopped running her fingers through his hair and rested her hand on Luke's left hand, which is still covering her chest wound. "Stay strong. I lo-" Her eyes closed as she exhaled her last breath._

_"Mara?" He felt that she was gone but he still called out to her. "Mara?" He hugged her tightly as he couldn't hold back his tears anymore. His light sobbing led to wailing angrily at the horrendous doing that were left for him to see. Nobody is there to hear his cries and comfort him. Everything he believed and worked for. His students. His love. His destiny. Decimated. He was all that was left._

_Luke._

_The last Jedi._

* * *

 

"I didn't stay strong. I fell apart."

Rey saw tears forming in his eyes as he struggled to finish retelling his past.

"After taking care of all of my students, as well as Mara, I ran from everything and everyone. I couldn't face my own sister and Han about their son and what had happened. Instead, I had R2 stay behind and tell them for me. He wanted to stay by me but I refused to let him do it. He unwillingly complied and stayed behind on Jandoon, while I went to search for the first Jedi temple. To make sense of why the Jedi had fallen again, like they had many times in the past, I eventually found myself here, on the far edge of the galaxy."

"Luke, listen to me. What Ben did, what he became, it's not your fault."

He chuckled sadly at her. "You make it sound so simple when it's not."

"It is simple. It's you who is making it complicated. You allowed him to talk to you. You spent time with him. You loved him as your nephew and student. You are not in the wrong. He is." Rey noticed that something clicks in Luke's mind as he looked at her. She kept going.

"Ben is the one at fault. He is the one that chose to not talk to you. He is the one that turned from you, his friends, and his family. He is the one that killed every last Jedi, including your wife. He alone is at fault."

"It's not entirely his fault. Snoke is also to blame for this. I know he somehow got to Ben and twisted his mind."

"Snoke?" Rey asked curiously.

Luke nodded. "That is what he goes by. I've never seen him but I know he's somewhere, hiding in darkness. I can't sense his precise location. The Dark Side is all that he is. There's no light in him. All I know about him are from stories and rumors that I had heard from many people across the galaxy."

Rey felt Luke's inner depression and guilt radiating off of him. She couldn't stand seeing him like this. _What can I do now? I tried to convince him that what I said is true, yet he still chooses to feel somewhat guilty. Maybe...that's it._ Rey stood up as she pulled Luke up from his seat as well. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Luke asked as Rey picked up her staff and slipped its strap over her head, so that it rested on her back.

She nodded in the direction she started walking. "We're going back to the Falcon. There are some friends that will be happy to see you."

* * *

 

 [i] ***Galactic Rebels was a hologame that allowed players to take on the personae of the heroes of the Rebel Alliance in defeating Imperial forces.**


	5. Paths that Entwine

_"The future has many paths -- choose wisely." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Assassin~_

* * *

 

The Millennium Falcon rested on the rock where Rey had landed it on the island. Rey was glad that she was walking down the stone stairs instead of up this time. She didn't rush, not wanting to leave Luke far behind her. This little walk to the Falcon was for him after all. The ramp was up and the door was locked as they both made their way down the stairs, but the ramp soon lowered and the door opened by the time both Rey and Luke make it down. Both of them stood at the bottom of the ramp and waited for the occupants to walk out. The sound of the ocean's waves beating against the rocky island nulled the silence between Rey and Luke. They both waited patiently for the dwellers inside the Falcon to step outside.

A couple of seconds later, the sight of long, shaggy, brown and black hairy being walked down the ramp. Rey smiled at him while Luke began to have feelings from his past rush back into his mind.

**_"Gggrrrraaaaahhhhh! Rrrrraaaahhhh!"_** Chewbacca went  over to Luke and gave him a firm hug that took Luke off of his feet.

"Ah! Chewie!" Luke tapped the Wookiee with his hands to try to get his attention, while struggling to get his words out of his mouth. "Chewie, can't breathe."

**_"Wwwrrrrraaaa."_** Chewie gently placed him back down on the ground as he sudden felt the weight of his partner's death come back upon his mind. **_"Mmmrrrrraaaaa-hhheeeerrrr-aaaarrrr."_**

"I know. I felt it through the Force." This time it was Luke's turn to hug Chewie. "I'm truly sorry, Chewie. "

_**"** Rrrmmmaaaahhhh." _

The sound of metal rolling down the ramp soon followed, accompanied by several high-pitch electrical noises. _Wwwweeeeeee! Beep-rrreeepppp! Eeeeeerrrreeeee!"_ R2-D2 quickly moved over to Luke, who had stopped embracing Chewie upon hearing his old friend's electrical tones of speech.

"R2..." Luke knelt in front of his buddy, resting his metallic hand on his dome. "I can't thank you enough and I can't apologize enough for asking you to stay behind for me."

_Bbbbrrrreeeeeeppppp-beee-beee-eeeppp._

Rey grinned sadly at Luke's reunion with Chewbacca and R2-D2. She felt his demeanor had changed from when she first met him. She hoped that Luke will stop putting himself down for his nephew's own choices. She believed that he could be happy again. All he needed was the right encouragement from the right friends.

"I'm glad you two are here." Luke sid to the droid and the Wookiee. They responded with friendly words of encouragement as Luke looked over at Rey.

"Rey, thank you. You were right. I did all that I could for Ben. You've made me see the situation more clearly. Now that you know everything that has happened, I ask you to choose. Do you wish to still learn the ways of the Force or do you wish to follow a different path?"

Rey did not hesitate in her answer. "I still wish for you to teach me about the Force, but only if you are confident in yourself."

Luke nodded. _She has a lot of heart. She may be the one to help me to fix all the wrongs that have been done to the galaxy._

"With you as my student, I will not lack in faith anymore. We shall start your training tomorrow. For now, have a look around the island and enjoy this beautiful day." He looked at Chewbacca and R2. "I sure you two have some stories you want to tell me."

**_"Wwwrrrraaaaaa."_ **

_Rrrrrreeeeeeppppp!_

As Chewbacca and R2 followed Luke back to his home, Rey headed off in a different direction to explore the calm, luscious island and all of its secrets. She was glad for a day where she could just lay back and admire the beauty of this world.

* * *

 

The yellow-painted Starfighter continued on its hyperspace journey to the Resistance's base. Silence had fallen between Poe and Angela. Poe wasn't sure what to talk about with her. Angela did not want to talk to Poe at all, in case she said too much. BB-8 however could not stand this long, awkward silence and decided to start a conversation.

_Bee-bee-eee-eeeppp. Ttteeerrrr._

Poe stared out of the cockpit, watching the light show that hyperspace gave to him. "What? No. You know I'm not one to brag, BB."

Even though Poe did not take the bait, Angela did. She couldn't curve her curiosity. Besides, she believed in knowing as much as possible. "That's alright, Poe. BB-8 can tell me about the mission instead." She heard Poe breathe a sigh of disapproval as BB-8 began his spiel about one of Poe's missions, when he was called Rapier Leader.

_Beeeeeerrrr. Beep. Tee-ree. Teebee-eeerrr. Beep-ppprrr._

"Really? That's amazing!" Angela gave BB-8 her full attention, ignoring all of Poe's verbal objections to BB-8, asking him to stop boasting on purpose.

BB-8 for the first time ignored his master and told Angela about all the missions that Poe had led during his time with the Resistance. From easy victories to narrow escapes, BB-8 recounted them all. While he did this, Poe mentally complained to BB-8 as he sat in silence in the back seat of the Starfighter, arms crossed and eyes becoming heavy.

_Wow. I didn't know that I was this tired. Then again I haven't slept for a couple of days with all that's been going on._ Poe heard both Angela's and BB-8's voice fade into the background noise of the Starfighter's hyperdrive engine. _I guess it wouldn't hurt if I close my eyes for a little bit._ Poe readjusted himself in his seat as he closed his eyes. The chatter between BB and Angela almost instantly dissipated away from his hearing as he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

 

After only a mere few hours later BB-8 finished telling Angela about Poe's latest mission which led to the eventual destruction of Starkiller Base.

"Wow. You two have been through a lot. And that's really an understatement."

_Teeebbeeerrrr._

Angela leaned back into her seat. She felt something touching the left side of her head. Turning her head slightly she saw Poe's short black hair resting on the shoulder of her seat, as if Poe was sitting at an odd angle. "Hey BB, is Poe asleep?" She kept her voice low just in case.

_Beep._ BB-8 confirmed.

Angela reached down and unclipped the top of her backpack. "I can't believe he fell asleep while we were talking about him. I couldn't do that if I tried." She took out an auburn blanket and unfolded it. She carefully shifted around enough to get the blanket around her seat and gently rest it on top of Poe. He didn't wake up but instead grabbed into the blanket and pulled it closer to his body. Angela turned back around, shaking her head at Poe sleeping so soundly in the company of someone who only revealed their name and nothing else.

BB-8 noticed the kind gesture towards his master and quickly pointed it out to Angela. _Bbbrrrr-bbbbeeee._

"Of course I care." She agreed. "I care more than you know...about the Resistance."

_Bbbrrrreeeee-eeeeerrrrr? Ttteee-rrrreeee._

"I would love to join the Resistance. The circumstances aren't right though. I can't."

_Bbbbeeeeeepppp?_

"I can't say."

_Bbbbeeee?_

"Because...because I can't, okay?" Angela stated frustratingly with the droid's questions. "Just leave it at that." She leaned on right hand, her hand resting under her chin as she looked away from BB-8, who ceased questioning her any further and told her instead how much longer the hyperspace travel will be.

_Bbbrrrrr. Bee-eee._

"Another two hours. Fantastic." She mumbled sarcastically to herself as she let her mind wander on several personal thoughts. Getting Poe and BB-8 back to their base could not be over soon enough for her. Sooner or later, they would figure out who she was, what she could do. As soon as they got out of her fighter, she would leave and find a new place to fit into the galaxy.

* * *

 

 Supreme Leader Snoke arrived on a watery world under the control of the First Order. His presence was deemed as a necessity at this time, considering all that had transpired between the Resistance and the First Order. Not only had Starkiller Base been disintegrated but also a new Force user had risen and followed the Path of Light. The time to complete Kylo's training would begin under his personal observation. There was no more room for any other errors.

With his personal guards in position outside the shuttle, Snoke exited the ship, making his way to the main building. His midnight-black robes swayed and snapped with the wind while torrents of rain fell relentlessly on the world. He walked out of the storm and into the building. Everyone in the room immediately knelt on one leg out of respect and fear at his very presence.  He ignored them all and walked past. He had one propriety at this moment. His steps out of the room were eerily silent. He entered into the medical center of the building and moved over to the only bed that is in use.

"Report."

The medical staff in charge of the patient's health bowed to Snoke before the head of the department stepped forward to give him all the details. "My lord, Kylo Ren is in a deep sleep. His injuries are healing correctly and in a timely manner. As you can see, the cut he had to his face is almost healed. The scar however we aren't able to get rid of completely. The section of it near his right eye and part of his forehead are too close to his optical receptors and nerves. He would lose sight in that eye if we attempted to fix it."      

"Very well." Snoke walked in the direction of his personal operation room. "See to it that you monitor his health constantly.

"As you wish, my lord." The medical personnel go back to monitoring all of Kylo's vitals. Their number one priority now was to keep Kylo alive and healing on schedule or else they would be in medical beds next to him.

Snoke was soon in his personal quarters and took a seat in his chair.  He contemplated over everything and everyone that's in play. _No one, not even that girl, will stop my plans for this galaxy's future. Once my apprentice has completed his training, nobody, not even Skywalker, will be able to stand in his way. The Jedi **will** fall and will forever be erased from existence. _

And then, it appeared. The slight tremor rippled through the Force, caused by Snoke alone. It echoed throughout the entirety of the Force.

Luke sensed it as he is watching the sun set on Ahch-To. He frowned. He knew exactly what caused the tremor. His eyes fell on Rey who was returning from her long day of adventuring around the island. She waved at Luke with a bright smile on her face. He waved in return, but did not smile back. The possible future in store for Rey could make her lose any form of joy that she had ever experienced; and Luke knew this far too well. Even though Rey chose her path, it didn't mean Luke felt any less compassion for her. If anything he cared more that she chose the Light rather than the Dark.

Tomorrow would be the beginning of a new chapter for Rey and Luke, learning and practicing in the ways of the Force.

Tomorrow would be a new day for Poe and Angela in their time together and the trials to come.

Tomorrow would be the continuation of Snoke's future plans and Kylo's training with the Dark Side.

Tomorrow held many paths with different outcomes. The paths they would choose will forever alter their lives and the balance of the galaxy. 


	6. The Force Within

"A great student is what the teacher hopes to be." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~ Wookiee Hunt~

* * *

 

A new day arrived on Ahch-To. While the sun rose in the sky, Rey continued to sleep in the stone structure, that Luke had built for his home. Growing up on Jakku she would always be up just before daybreak to start her daylong scavenging, so that she could find the highest valued scrap parts before others came along. That, along with the fact her life had changed so rapidly within mere weeks, had really drained her of energy. For once, she could sleep past the sun rising above the horizon. Luckily Luke wasn't hard on her. Back when he was training his students he would make sure they got up at a reasonable time in the morning. However, Luke decided that he should let Rey sleep for as long as she wanted to, so that she could be at full alertness and strength for her first lesson of the day.

The sun almost reached directly above the sky before Rey stirred on her floor mat. She breathed deeply as she pushed herself upright. She yawned while stretching her arms. Her hazel eyes slowly opened to see that Luke wasn't in the main room where she had slept.

"Luke?" She doesn't receive an answer. Rey stood up and headed for the only wooden door in the stone home and knocked. "Luke, are you in there?" No answer. Not sensing him in the room or nearby, Rey slipped on her boots, grabbed her staff, and went out to find Skywalker.

She did not have a solid idea on where to start searching so she decided to climb up to the tallest point on the island. _Maybe I'll be able to spot him if I get to a high enough vantage point._ Rey used her staff as a walking stick as she went up to the steepest part of the island. Once she reached the top she picked out one of the boulders that towered several yards upwards. She slung her staff onto her back and climbed up the boulder's side, using whatever hand and footholds she could take advantage of.

Rey was successful in reaching the top of the rock. She searched in a complete circle for any sign of Luke. Several times she thought she spotted him off in the distance but every time it would be just some rocks or plants on the island that moved with the gentle breeze.

"How am I suppose to find him now?" Rey sat down on the rock and thought about her next move.   _I don't see him and I can't sense him nearby..._ It suddenly clicked in her mind. _Maybe if I focus on sensing him through the Force just a bit harder, I can find him. It's worth a shot._

Rey crossed her legs while closing her eyes. She pushed all of her thoughts out except for one: Luke Skywalker. Her breathing became slow and deep. She felt it. The Force was everywhere. It surrounded her and every living thing on this world. She could feel it penetrating her consciousness as it flowed through her. She could sense the bindings that it had to all living organisms on the island. Rey could tell what she sensed near her. However, none were what she sought.

 _I have to stretch out with my feelings to find him._ The world fell silent as she honed in on one unique ripple within the Force. _Luke._ Her search for Luke began to clear as she sensed the area that Luke was in. _I feel a cooler area that's...in shade? I hear...water. Tiny chirps. Birds?_ Rey opened her eyes and started her climb back down the boulder. She was completely sure of where Luke was now.

She began her descent down the hill and into the valley on the island. What she felt through the Force was an area that she had found and explored the previous day. Rey reached the edge of the only area that had a decently-sized forest. She kept walking into the woods, remembering her previous path to the area had a tiny creek flowing across rocks jutting out of the mossy forest floor and bending around the roots of the tall, bulky trees. She heard it rippling off to her right, just over a small incline. She jogged over and peered down the incline to see the creek making a beeline into a thicker part of the forest. On the opposite side of the creek is a flat stone circle, about thirty feet in diameter, that was surrounded by stone benches and trees. Rey had been right in her conclusion about where Luke was. She caught a glimpse of him sitting on one of the stone benches, his line of sight directed to the creek nearby.

Rey carefully walked down the hill. She made it to the creek and jumped from stone to stone until she crossed it. As she reached the edge of the circular stone area, Rey noticed that Luke wasn't exactly alone. He had some tiny friends sitting near him...and on him.

"How are you doing that?" She whispered to him.

Luke slowly looked over at Rey. "I stay calm and very still. The rest is up to them."

Tiny birds rested on Luke's shoulders, his grey hair and on the stone bench next to him. Their tiny chirps amused Rey as she edged closer to Luke, hoping that she could sit down on a bench so that they would come near her as well.The birds don't find Rey's presence to be comfortable for them. They flapped their tiny wings and flew off in different directions into the woods. Rey frowned in slight disappointment.

"It's alright, Rey. They'll be back when they are ready." Luke stood up. "How difficult was it for you to find me?"

"Not that difficult. When I didn't see you from a high vantage point I tried to sense where you were. It was weird yet strangely peaceful. I felt you were in a cool, shaded area, then I heard the creek and the birds chirping. I knew where you where because all of those things I found yesterday when I was exploring the island."

"Wow." Luke chuckled out of awe and slight shock.

"Wow?"

"Rey, you are truly special. Your connection to the Force is very strong and comes to you as natural as you heartbeat. You more than passed your first lesson with flying colors."

"Finding you was my first lesson?"

"With the Force, yes.  You told me you had already used the Force a few times. I thought for your first lesson you should use it to find me. I expected you to easily figure out where I was. What I didn't expect was for you to feel the coolness of the shade and hear the creek and the birds through the Force. That is a skill that takes a determined and consistent student years to learn, let alone master."

"Wow." Rey could only repeat that word in a hushed tone as she felt a surge of adrenaline rush through her veins. _This feels so natural and right, but...why do I feel uneasy?_ Her emotions conflicted within her while she tried to push them all down to focus on the day at hand.  "Well, since I passed your first lesson, what is the second one going to be about?"

"The second lesson-" Luke stretched out his hand towards the outer edge of the stone circle. Rey watched in awe and silence as one of the stone benches rose up from the ground and levitated towards her. "-is practicing on bending the Force to your will. However, another lesson goes along with using the Force." Luke lowered the bench down near them as Rey stood fascinated at his skills. She couldn't help but ask something she had always wanted to know, ever since hearing many stories and supposed rumors about him.

"Luke, there's something I want to ask you."

"What is it, Rey?"

"Is it true that you once brought down a Tie-Fighter using nothing but the Force?!"

Luke thought on it for a few moments before the event resurfaced in his memories. "Hm...yeah. Yeah, I did many years ago. As a matter of fact, it happened a few months after the destruction of the second Death Star. The situation and timing were right and the Force was with me on the idea. So, I reached out with the Force and pulled the Tie-Fighter out of its flight path and towards the ground."

"That must have been amazing!"

"To be honest, it was." Luke took a moment to be proud of the many feats he had accomplished by sheer commitment and Force manipulation. He added on to this discussion. "Just remember, Rey. Remember to use the Force for serious matters, never for mere enjoyment and for selfish gain. Toying with the Force is a path that can lead you far into the Dark Side before you realize that you have been straying from the Light. Be mindful of every action you take with it."

"I will." Rey nodded.

"Good. Now, if you don't have any more questions about my past feats, we will begin your second lesson."

"I don't have another question about you at the moment." Rey mentally prepared herself for the next lesson, silently hoping that it will come easy to her as finding him through the Force had been. "So, what is my next lesson?"

"That depends. How well can you do handstands?"

"Handstands?"


	7. Evil Twists in the Shadows

"When destiny calls, the chosen have no choice."  -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Water War~

* * *

 

 

General Hux stood on the top deck of the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer as it orbited above the planet of Geonosis.  Several cruisers waited above the planet while a small air fleet and ground force traveled to Tatooine for a inconspicuous, reconnaissance mission. In order to keep the mission out of the eyes of the populace of the desert planet as much as possible required for most of the First Order fleet in the Wild Space territory to wait above the nearby planet of Geonosis. This would allow for them to standby for incoming transmissions from the troops on the mission as well as provide a quick response team from them should they require it.  

"General Hux, incoming transmission from the reconnaissance mission on Tatooine." A First Order transmission operator called out from one of the work stations below the top deck.

"Patch it through immediately." Hux walked from the front windows of the Destroyer, heading towards the back of the top deck. In the center of the floor was a holoprojector that activated just as Hux reaches it.

"Captain Phasma. Give your full, detailed report." Hux commanded firmly.

"Sir, after gathering intel from the locals, we headed for the target location. Upon reaching the location, we noticed that a Resistance fighter was already there. After its destruction a fighter took off from the location. I, along with my two wing pilots, pursued the craft. Unfortunately the pilot took out both of my wing pilots and disabled my ship before we could disable the fighter and detain the pilot. The other soldiers for this reconnaissance searched the moisture farm but found it to be scorched by a fire that happened many years ago. They found nothing that could aid in finding out Luke Skywalker's location and it's highly probable that the Resistance fighter found nothing as well."

"Round up your men and prepare for extraction from Tatooine." Hux stated.

"Right away, General Hux." Phasma's holographic image flickered off as Hux walked back to the front of the top deck.

"Alert the fleet. Plot a course for Tatooine and prepare for the jump to hyperspace." Hux commanded his crew leader onboard the Star Destroyer.

"Yes, Sir." The leader in charge of operations shouted boldly then gave specific orders to the crew to begin their jump to hyperspace.

While the First Order fleet prepared their hyperspace journey, General Hux remembered he had to report to a higher official as well. He left the front of the top deck and went deeper into the Star Destroyer. He passed by three doors on each side of him before turning to his left through the fourth door. The metal door quickly slid open and then shut tight once General Hux was clear of the doorway.  This room was specifically built for a secure transmission to and from Supreme Leader Snoke. General Hux walked into the middle of the fairly decent sized room. His body signature was identified by the security and protocol systems of the transmission room, allowing it to begin broadcasting to Supreme Leader Snoke's personal holo-communicator. As Hux waited for Snoke to answer he prepared himself mentally for the possible ramifications that could be brought about by his own militia's failed reconnaissance mission to Tatooine.                                                                                                                                                                    

* * *

 

He felt as though his body was pure stone. It's so heavy that he couldn't force it to move.

He got annoyed.

He struggled to open his eyes and failed.

He got frustrated.  

He was fully aware that he was lying horizontal on a bed of some kind.

He focused on remembering how he had arrived at this point.

 _Come on. Think. What happened?_ He remembered lying on the ground, just as he was lying currently on the bed.

 _The ground was...cold yet soft. ...Snow. Starkiller Base. I was on Starkiller Base._ The faded memory of a girl...no. Not a girl. **The** girl. The one that was strong with the Force. The one that disrespectfully held his grandfather's lightsaber. The lightsaber that slaughtered hundreds of Jedi in the oath to achieving a galaxy under the protective control of a singular power.

 _That...girl._ The anger within him swelled like the winds of a raging thunderstorm. _She took that lightsaber! **THAT...BELONGED...TO ME!!!**_

Because of the sudden growth of rage within him, Kylo broke from the paralysis that held his body down. He bolted upright on the bed as a furious, vengeful yell shattered the silence that had once been in the room. A wave of uncontrolled Dark Side energy pulsated out from Kylo, sending several pieces of medical equipment and personnel flying from their positions. His breathing was heavy as he brought a hand up to his face and remembered the blinding slash of blue light that sliced into his face.

He hesitated in his demand towards any of the medical personnel that he had sent flying across the room. He's unsure if he wanted to see the damage done by that girl. But, he eventually gave into his curiosity. "One of you give me a mirror to look into now!"

His words instilled a fearful urge in the head of the medical facility. He quickly scanned the floor and found the mirror, they had on hand, lying nearby. He picked it up and walked over to Kylo, who still was sitting upright, his legs hanging over the one side of the bed. "Here you are, my lord."

Kylo roughly snatched the mirror out of his hands. His reflection through the cracked mirror showed that a scar had formed, traveling from between his eyebrows down at an angle to the bottom of his right eye. He runs a finger along the permanent reminder of his failure to overcome the rising power of that girl.

"We were able to minimize the scarring on your wound to your face, since it wasn't too deep. However, we couldn't attempt to mend the small section you see there without risking damage to your eyesight. The other wounds on your body have healed almost completely as well. I suggest that you-"

Kylo threw the mirror across the room, causing the mirror to completely shatter into tiny shards as it collided with the wall. He nearly leaped off from the bed as he pushed the head medical person out of his path. "Out of my way."

"Sir, do you think it's wise to-" His words get cut off as Kylo used the power of the Dark Side to pull the guy towards him, chocking him by both the Force and by his own hand.

"Did I ask you for your opinion?" Kylo sensed the fear within the man as he struggled to shake his head to answer him, since his throat was nearly shut by Kylo's hold of him. "Good. Then, you understand not to speak unless spoken to. You are dismissed." Kylo, with the Force, sent the man crashing into several medical apparatuses that had not yet been ruined by his sudden destructive outburst of power.

Kylo stomped out of the room and towards a locker that held his clothing and his lightsaber. He could hear and feel the blade calling to him, wanting him to grip and wield it in anger. As he carelessly flung the locker open with the Force, the wound to his side pulsated dully, only fuelling his rage more. He puts  on his usual clothes, which replaced the ones he had arrived in, full of tears, cuts and holes from Finn and Rey wielding the lightsaber against him and from Chewbacca shooting him in his side. His hand rested over the wound inflicted by his once closest friend and honorary "god-uncle" Chewbacca. He briefly forgot his dark path as he recalled him and Chewbacca playing several games and reenacting several stories that he had read and been told growing up. He would never have that relation to him again. He would never make memories like that...again. He fell back into the Dark as he snapped his lightsaber to his belt and walked out of the medical area, heading towards one of the main training rooms that had been set up for him and the Knights of Ren to keep up with exercising in their weapons and combat techniques.  

As he traversed down one of the many hallways in the circular structure, his eyes glanced out the window that was only on one side of the hallway. The sky was a murky shade of blackish-grey as lightning streaked across the clouds and down upon lightning rods attached to the many buildings and into the tumultuous waters of Kamino. A bleak, ominous evening for the bleak, ominous young man.

* * *

 

While Kylo sets his focus on building back up his strength and confidence, Supreme Leader Snoke witnessed his apprentice awaken and build slowly in power as his inner rage started to consume him once more. This concerned him. He did want Kylo to strengthen his connection to the Dark but also wanted him the Light within him too. Snoke knew that if one could wield both sides of the Force equally, one could become the most powerful, nearly unstoppable force that can achieve whatever they so desired in the galaxy. However, to be able to use both Light and Dark without one side gaining more influence and power was like comparing a grain of sand next to the size of the galaxy itself. Snoke could notice that Kylo was slowly slipping to the Dark Side completely, especially ever since he was successful in brutally stabbing his own father through the heart with his own lightsaber. He may not be able to train the apprentice he so longing wanted and needed in order to bring the whole galaxy under his rule. He must wait for a certain Force-sensitive to reappear within the Force. Snoke was certain that they will ultimately be the key to restore order to the galaxy.

_It's only a matter of time before your instincts reveal where you are, legendary Halva. Master of both Light and Dark. You cannot ignore your destiny. And when it brings you out of the shadows, I **will** find you; and I **will** mold you so that you reach your full potential. You will bring every world to its knees out of both fear and respect of your power. And, you will make the galaxy one again under the First Order._

 


	8. Suspicions at Yavin 4

_"Who a person truly is cannot be seen with the eye." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Shadow Warrior~_

* * *

 

 

_"Bbeerrpp-ttteee-rrrreee. Wwweeee."_

"About time." Angela sat a little more upright when BB-8 informed her that they had arrived at the Resistance's new base and that he was deactivation the hyperdrive. "This base of yours is at least in the middle of the galaxy, if not the opposite side from where Tatooine was."

_"Brbrbrbrbrb-wwwweeeerrr."_

"Damn." Angela sarcastically snapped her fingers. "You're on to me, BB-8." Her tone became sincere. "Of course I want to know what world we are going to. I mean I've never left Tatooine's surface my whole life. This is a new experience for me."

As the hyperdrive on the Starfighter shut down, the Starfighter exited hyperspace above a rust-colored red and orange world. Angela was about to wake Poe up from his slumber in the back seat but completely forgot about him as her eyes widen at the sight of the massive planet.

 _"_ Tttteeeee-rree-bbbeee. _Bbee-iiitttt."_ BB-8 informed her that he would guide the Starfighter to the base.

"Yeah, you do that." Angela subconsciously gave BB-8 her permission to fly the Starfighter the rest of the way to base, while she looked back in awe at the world before her.

Angela saw that she was slowly getting closer to this world. However, BB-8 began to pilot the Starfighter outward from the direction of the large planet's atmosphere. She said nothing but watched to see where the droid would take them. As her Starfighter flew around the rust-colored world, another spherical world appeared in the distance, much smaller than its counterpart. From what Angela could see and from what knowledge she had picked up on both her own accord and from others, she speculated that his world was a moon of the larger reddish-orange planet. She also noted that this moon had organic life from its blue and green areas that enveloped it.

As the Starfighter traveled closer to the world, BB-8 told Angela that he would contact the base to inform them that their ship was friendly so that they could land without any confliction or hostility. Angela gave him a quick "uh huh" as her gaze kept taking in the wonderful new sight in her eyes.

BB-8 received the clearance from the base to enter the moon's atmosphere and piloted the ship to the base's location. The Starfighter pierced through the edge of the moon's atmosphere and steered it towards the Resistance Base. Angela kept her focus on the moon's surface, admiring all the lively, beautiful forest landscape around her. Poe still slept peacefully underneath the blanket that Angela had draped over him earlier.

A few minutes passed until a rather large structure peaked just above the tree line in the distance. BB-8 slowed down the Starfighter and began descending it towards the stone building. Angela focused on the movement she saw on the ground around the building. Several people walked in different directions to and from the building that was, without a doubt to Angela, the Resistance's base. She became slightly uneasy but continued to observe the activity around her, as BB-8 made some last minute adjustments to the Starfighter's flight path. He successfully piloted the Starfighter into the hangar, located in the ground floor of the stone building that, the more Angela looked at its structure, appeared to have been a great temple at some point in time.

BB-8 engaged the Starfighter's landing gear as Angela remembered the sleeping passenger in the back seat.  "Hey Dameron, wake up. We're here at your base."

"Mmm. Great. That's great." He mumbled under his breath as he made no attempt to move from his comfortable position under the blanket.

 _Drastic times I guess._ Angela resorted to a cruel option. "Alright Dameron, trips over. Give me back my blanket." She reached behind her seat, grabbed hold of the blanket with both hands, and yanked it off without any opposition from Poe.  As she folded it up to put it into her backpack, Poe finally stirred from his slumber as he stretched as much as he could in the limited space of the Starfighter.

"What...Oh. Did I really sleep most of the way here?" He whispered to himself

"You did." Angela unlatchesd the lock on her cockpit. The dome-shaped window rose open. Angela stood up in her Starfighter as BB-8 released the locks on his area, allowing him to roll up and out of the Starfighter.

Poe hopped out of the Starfighter while Angela prepared to sit back down in her pilot's seat to leave this world before anything or anyone can distract or stop her from doing so. Poe saw this and acted accordingly.

"Leaving so soon? At least stay for a few minutes while some maintenance crew workers look over your Starfighter. It was involved in a small battle with some First Order troops after all."

" _Bbbbeeeerrr."_ BB-8 seconded Poe's suggestion.

"Thanks but I really must leave." Angela turned down the offer in an attempt to leave as soon as possible without raising suspicion. Unfortunately, someone walked over to her, Poe, and BB-8. Someone that would hinder Angela's desire and need to leave the Resistance Base.

"Dameron, you're back."

Poe turned around to address them. "General Organa. Sorry for the delay. Several things came up during my mission that kept me from reporting my progress."

Poe and General Organa's discussion about the mission to Tatooine faded from Angela's hearing as her face turned pale at the sight of General Organa standing before her. Angela's situation just went from a minor issue to a possible destruction of everything that she had done to keep in hiding from everything and from contact with anyone, especially those with some form of influence and power.

 _Out of the fire and into the lava rivers of Mustafar. I knew General Organa was involved with the Resistance. I didn't think she would be at this particular base. They have to have several bases across the galaxy. Why did she have to be at this one?!_ _Wait, does she know about me? She hasn't implied anything about me yet. Hopefully just maintaining my composure will be good enough. After all, she isn't Luke Skywalker. She didn't train in the ways of the Force like he did, from what I know of. Still, she's a Skywalker. I will have to be extra cautious of-_

"Hm." Angela snapped out of her thoughts as Poe and General Leia had finished their conversation over Poe's mission. She saw that General Leia was staring at her with a soft, almost caring look. Angela didn't know if she should admire the gesture or be in fear of it. She just turned to look at Po. She knew he had something to say.

"So, while the maintenance crew looks over your Starfighter, I was thinking that we can just hang out here and talk."

"Why just do that?"

"General?" Poe looked confusingly at Leia.

"It could take a while for the crew to fully look over Angela's Starfighter. You should give her a full tour."

"Are you sure? I mean...I did keep the location of this base secure."

"Poe, from what you told me about the mission, how she saved both you and BB-8 from an attack from the First Order, I'm pretty sure I can trust her, just as I'm sure you do."

"I'm right here, you know." Angela stepped out of her fighter as she activated the cockpit to close. Before it closed all the way, she quickly reached in and pulled out her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder. "Since you insist on having your men check out my fighter, for one reason or another, I wouldn't mind something to do to pass the time. A tour of a Resistance base sounds like it would be intriguing." _Either intriguing or the possibility of giving myself away._  

"Excellent. Poe, you have clearance from me to show her whatever you see fit to show her. I have some unfinished business to attend to. Come find me if you need me." Leia turned and went away from Poe, BB-8, and Angela. "Have fun you two."  She said this in a very suspicious yet cheerful tone of voice, as if she liked the idea of Poe showing Angela around the base.

While Angela mentally breathed a sigh of relief at Leia moving away from her, Poe was confused as to Leia's last statement. _Why did General Organa say "have fun" in that tone of voice? She's never talked like that before, to anyone that I've known at least._

"So, since you were put in charge of showing me around, shall we get started?" Angela asked as she watched a maintenance team get to work on looking over her Starfighter.

"Y-yeah. Of course." Poe nodded for her to follow. "Let's start with the hangar and make our way around in a circle."

As Poe, Angela, and BB-8 traverse through the hangar area, Poe motioned to several items of key note. He even went into detail on the X-Wings that were parked inside the hangar bay, who owns each one and what they've all been through. Angela gave Poe one-worded replies as he continued showing her the base. They observed the main information center, which monitored all of their contacts and the First Order's movements and possible actions they may take against the Resistance. They then walked through the one section of the base that was some rooming areas for the Resistance fighters and leaders on "So you live in this base?" Angela asked without a second thought.

Poe shook his head. "No actually. My home is actually a few klicks from here. Since the Resistance moved here to Yavin 4, I thought it would be best if I just stayed at my old place instead of taking a bed that someone else may need." Poe slightly smiled at her. "Besides, it's nice to get away from all of this, even if it's only for a night at a time."

Angela nodded in agreement. "That sounds nice."

" _B-b-b-b-bbbrrrreeeppp?"_

"Yeah buddy. That's our next stop."

"We don't have to visit the med center. I know what they are like. Unnaturally quiet. Depressing." Angela stated.

"You don't have to go in." All three of them stopped outside the entrance of the medical center. Poe lowered his voice to a hushed tone. "But I have to."

Angela knew what he meant and what he felt just from his lowered tone of voice and his cheerful banter fading into a more serious and concerned attitude. "I understand. If you don't mind me joining you, I'll go in there."

"No. I don't mind." Poe's grin appeared briefly before fading back into his serious stare. "Thanks."

The door to the med center slid quickly upwards. Poe, BB-8, then Angela enter into the extensively large room. There were several medical person going about their daily routines as one of them notices that Poe was here for his daily visit.

"Poe." The head of the medical department greeted him with their cheery yet professional smile as they walked over towards him.

"Doctor Riyau." Poe greeted the light-green skinned female Twi'lek with a sad smile. Both of them walked side by side towards an occupied bed. Angela and BB-8 fell behind them as Dameron and Riyau talked to each other about the ongoing situation.

"How's he doing?" Poe asked, knowing that the answer would be the same one he had received over the past couple of weeks.

"He's stable but he is still in a coma."

Doctor Riyau and Poe stopped at the side of the occupied bed. "His wounds are still healing at the rate they should. I know I keep saying this but the sooner he wakes up, the better. I'll continue to keep a close eye on him."

"I can't thank you enough, Doctor."

"You fighting against the First Order is more than enough thanks for me, Poe Dameron." Her com-link beeped on the side of her belt. "That must be our shipment of medical supplies coming in. I must go. As usual, spend as much time here as you wish." Doctor Riyau nodded to both Poe and Angela as she left the room.

Angela edged closer to the bed. She looked down at the patient lying in a coma. From what she could see, the dark-skinned man looked to be in his twenties. The machinery around him gave off timely beeps, assuring her that this man was still living and in a coma, just as Doctor Riyau had said.

"What's his name?" Angela asked.

"Finn. Well, that's the name I gave him. His name was just a set of letters and numbers when he was with the First Order. I felt that he deserved to have a real name so I suggested Finn. He liked it and stuck with it."

"Wait...he was a stormtrooper for the First Order?"

"Yeah."

Pieces began to click in Angela's mind. "So he's the stormtrooper that renounced the First Order."

"You know about that?"

Angela smirked at him. "I don't know of anyone in the galaxy that doesn't know about that. Plus, when you do something as bold as that, it spreads like wildfire, especially in spaceports such as Mos Eisley, which is where I heard of it."

"I just hope he wakes up soon." Poe sighed. "There is so much that has happened since he was hurt. He probably doesn't even know that he saved Rey's life by holding off Kylo Ren for as long as he did."

"I know of Kylo Ren. However, I have not heard of Rey. Who is that? Are they here at this base?"

"No. She left to find Luke Skywalker, so that she can become a Jedi. She asked me to keep an eye on Finn while she's gone." Poe looked down at the comatose Finn before continuing. "I've heard stories of Jedi being able to heal people at a rapid rate. It's too bad the only two in the whole galaxy are on a different planet." _The Resistance can't risk going to that planet, not with the First Order wanting to find him._

"I'm ready to continue showing you the base, if you are." Poe noticed that Angela was gazing upon Finn, unaware that he had called her name."Angela?"  Still, no acknowledge to his reply as she stood as firm as a solid statue of stone. "Ang."

Her thoughts and concentration on Finn had been broken. _Damn it, Dameron. I almost did it. Wait...did he call me "Ang"? A nickname..._

"Hm?" She looked at him.           

"Are you ready to continue the tour?" Poe motioned towards the medical center entrance just as Doctor Riyau returned from her latest task.

"Yes, let's go." Angela gave Finn one last glance as she, Poe, and BB-8 leave the facility. _I'm sorry, Finn. I can't risk the Resistance finding out about me. I hope you find the right path and awake from your coma on your own. I tried my best._

* * *

 

The day continued on for the Resistance without any issues or conflict. General Organa continued to oversee and lead in several reconnaissance and negotiation missions. While she did this, Poe and BB-8 soon finished the tour of the base. As Poe reached the entrance to the base, he saw that the sun was just above the tree line in the distance. Soon night would fall upon Yavin 4. Poe walked back over to Angela, who was busy talking to the maintenance crew her had been working on her Starfighter all day.

"What do you mean my Starfighter can't leave in this condition?!" Angela's voice was full of confusion and annoyance. She kept calm and collective with her actions even though a sliver a worry started to creep into her demeanor. "How could it possible not work if I flew her in it just fine?"

The headman of the maintenance crew assigned to Angela's ship became annoyed at the situation they had found themselves at. "I understand how you are feeling about this."

"No you don't. You may think you do, but you really don't. Just what exactly is 'wrong' with my fighter?"

"Well, somehow your Starfighter is missing the main power cell for the cooling system."

"That's impossible. It had to have been attached to my Starfighter when I got here or else Dameron, BB-8, and I would have been disintegrated upon entering hyperspace."

"Yes, I know that and you know that. I'm not questioning that you had a power cell for the coolant system when you arrived. I'm question as to where it has gone now. I'm terribly sorry for this setback. I'm having my crew working on replacing it as we speak but we are having trouble finding a cell that will work with your fighter."  

"You won't find one that works." She sighed as she moved her backpack in front of her. She reached into one of its side pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper folded several times over. She opened it up, revealing several more separately folded papers. After unfolding the third one, she handed it over to the head of the maintenance team.

"Here is the schematic of the power cell I built for my Starfighter. You'll have to find all the necessary components but once you do, you can assemble it so that I can leave as soon as possible. Just, whatever you do, don't let anyone else hold or make a copy of that schematic."

"You got it." He nodded turns towards his crew and gave them the rundown on what they were going to be doing, at least for the next couple days.

Angela's concern about the whole ordeal continued to grow. _Someone took that power cell from my Starfighter. The question is who...and why._

"What was that all about?" Poe asked, hoping that Angela will fill in the details that he had missed.

"It looks like I'm going to be stuck on this planet for a few days. The power cell for my cooling system is gone. Without it I can't leave this planet. And since it's one I had to build to work with my Starfighter, it has to be built from scratch."

_"Ttteeerrrr. Bbbeeee. Rrrrrr."_

"You don't have to apologize BB-8. It's not like you took it anyways."

"Are you saying that someone at the base took it?" Poe questioned her suspicion, taking a slight offense to her implied accusation of the Resistance's personnel.

"Well it's not like I took it out of  my own Starfighter. What would be the purpose of that? All I know is that it was attached to my Starfighter when we landed, and now it's no longer there. It's not like it's sentient and can roll away on its own."

Poe couldn't help but stifle a laugh. "Good point." After a brief pause he thought of a new problem and a possible solution to go along with it.

"Listen, the sun is starting to set. Since you would probably find it awkward and uncomfortable to sleep here in the base, let alone your Starfighter, I was thinking that you could use your own room to stay in, until your fighter is fixed."

Angela mentally agreed. _He's right. I don't want to stay here, not with General Organa around. But, what is Dameron's advantage here to offering me a difference place to stay?_

"What do you have in mind?"

"As I said earlier, my home is here on Yavin 4. It's a few klicks from here. What I'm offering is a spare room back at my place."

"What's the catch?"

"...huh?"

"The catch? What is it? What do you want in return?" She was careful to question this offer from him. She had learned to take nothing for granted and always question every nice gesture.

It clicked in Poe's mind why she is suspicious of his offer. He wanted to kick himself for not thinking twice about his words. _She grew up on Tatooine, idiot. That planet is full of scum that love taking advantage of people in any way. No wonder she's looking at me like I'm about to do something against her._

"Oh..no. No. I know what you are thinking and it's not that, I can promise you that!" He hoped his explanation will make Angela think nice thoughts about him, instead of thoughts of him being lewd and selfish.

"All that I'm offering you is your own place to stay. No one will disturb you while you are asleep and nobody will come to seek you out while you are there. I'll make sure that nobody in the base knows that you are there, since some of them have been wanting to ask you questions that are personal, even though they are ignoring a direct order from General Organa."

Poe's honesty was clear to Angela. She began to feel something that she hasn't felt for years: someone that cared for her well-being.  "You're willing to offer me my own personal space, free from anyone on this planet wanting to speak to me, for...nothing?"

"Well, not nothing. I mean you did save both my and BB-8's life."

 _"Brrrreee-eeeerrrr."_ BB cheerfully agreed with Poe.

"Consider this offer as a thank you, for everything you've done for us." Poe offered his hand to her.

She took his hand and shook it firmly. "Okay. I accept."

"Alright, let's get going." Poe, Angela, and BB-8 head out the entrance to the hangar bay, towards one of the speeders that was parked outside. Soon, all three of them would be at Poe's place, ready to call it a day. A very long, eventful day.  


	9. A Voice in the Darkness

_You must trust in others or success is impossible." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Point of No Return~_

* * *

 

 

It's as though he had relived this event many times before. He felt as though it was always repeating without relent. Snowflakes continued to flutter down from the darkened sky as the trunks of the lumbering trees stood as statues dusted with a light frost. The snow on the ground was shallow and was dry, which gave both his enemy and him more steady footing to battle. The only problem was that every confrontation he got into, he lost.

Finn looked at Rey as she was lying unconscious in the snow. He cupped her face in his hands as he tried to get her to open her eyes.  "No, no, no! Rey!" His words were mere whispers as he realized that Rey wasn't moving. The sound of Kylo's lightsaber being swung around snapped Finn's sight from Rey. He was wide-eyed as he realized that he had to face Kylo in alone, for both his and Rey's sake.

"TRAITOR!" Kylo's anger-filled shout echoed through the brisk, forest air.

Finn's jaw clenched and his eyebrows furrowed as he gently rested Rey's head down on the snowy ground. His fear mixed with his surging anger, causing his muscle to tense as he reached for his side to grab the only weapon he had. As he stood up from the ground he felt as though he had been in this situation before. As quickly as he had the thought, it left his mind, being filled instead with his fear and anger driven determination to stop Kylo from killing Rey and him.

Finn spun around, gripping the hilt of the lightsaber firmly in both hands. He switched it on, the blue blade igniting from the hilt. It  gave off a blue glow that shined on Finn's right side, while casting a dark shadow on his left. He watched Kylo thrust his red, crackling lightsaber blade towards his direction.

"That lightsaber...it belongs to me." Kylo uttered this claim without a doubt that he **was** the rightful owner of this blade. The blade of a Jedi.

Once again, this scenario played out before Finn felt oddly familiar to him, yet he pushed the thought to the back at his mind again as he gripped onto the hilt of the lightsaber a little tighter. Even though his subconscious told him to run, he used that fear to fuel the fire of rage he had, aiming all of it at Kylo Ren.

"Come get it!" Finn charged forward while releasing a battle cry, a battle cry that drove him to fight against Kylo without hesitation.

Finn took a swing at Kylo, which was blocked easily by him.

After pushing the blue blade away, Kylo took his turn in slashing his enemy. His heavy attack was pushed back by Finn, only further driving up the intensity of this anger and power in the Dark Side.

Finn used simple attacks, both normal and heavy. He hadn't been trained to use any form of a weapon that made direct contact. He was a blaster wielder with an ancient weapon of the Jedi. He's out of his element.

Kylo tapped into his training with his blade to use a bare bone attempt of Form V, also known as Djem So back in the time of the Clone War Era. His goal was to overpower the Traitor in order to land a clean blow. The only problem was that he was continuing to be torn apart, by both Light and Dark. He couldn't maintain his middle ground between the two, thus throwing his focus askew and not giving him the advantage he immediately wanted.

Kylo slammed his blade into his grandfather's lightsaber. The sudden force from Kylo's swing caused Finn to lose his balance and fall backwards onto the ground. Finn prepared for another attack from Kylo; but oddly, Kylo turned around and walked away from him while growling at himself. Finn then noticed Kylo hitting his injured side again, as if it was helping him in some way. As weird as that was, Finn kept his mind on the enemy. He scrambled up from the ground and dashed towards Kylo for another attack. Kylo heard Finn running towards him and quickly sidestepped out of Finn's swing.

It's Kylo's turn for the offensive. He tauntingly spun his crackling blade several times before walking towards Finn, who raised his lightsaber up in front of him for the only defense he had. Kylo struck  Finn's blade several times before swinging his blade in a circular move above his head and downward. Finn stopped the blade before Kylo readjusted his posture and clashed his blade against his grandfather's blue lightsaber again. With the growing pain in his side and the power of the Dark Side slowly snuffing out the Light, Kylo used all of his focus and might to push Finn against a tree as he pushed harder and harder upon the blue blade.

Finn and Kylo locked their eyes one on another briefly. One set of eyes was full of anger, pain, and fear. The other set of eyes held anger, pain, and fear; but these eyes, Finn's eyes, were different. He was angry at what Kylo had done to Rey; he was in pain over the conflicting emotions that had transpired over the course of the past couple days; he was fearful of losing everything he had wanted and falling to what he had left behind.

Finn wasn't strong enough.

Kylo forced his blade closer and closer to Finn. The left cross-guard section of the blade soon pierced deeper and deeper into Finn's right shoulder, causing him to lose his focus on Kylo and let out a scream of agony. Kylo had the chance to end this. He quickly pulled back his lightsaber and swung towards Finn. Finn also had a chance. He ducked, dodging Kylo's attack. The red blade sliced into the bark of the tree and left a red, glowing cut from the blade.  

It's Finn's turn for the offensive. He swung his lightsaber and hit Kylo's blade to the side, making Kylo vulnerable. Finn didn't waste any time. He swung the blade, managing to knick Kylo's upper right arm.

Kylo involuntarily grasped his arm as a grunt escaped from his lips. He was not about to be defeated from some traitor, a traitor that had no concept of just how powerful the Dark Side of the Force truly was. Refocusing his anger and pain, he spun around and struck Finn's blade.  Twisting his wrists and swinging his arms wide, Kylo pushed the blue blade down and around to Finn's left.

Finn felt the grip on the lightsaber hilt loosen. He couldn't hang on to it.

The blue lightsaber flew from Finn's grasp, switched off with a hiss and landed downward in a small pile of pure white snow several yards away. Finn's only chance of keeping Rey and himself alive was the blue blade of that lightsaber. Its blue light, like his hope, had vanished.

Kylo knew the battle is over. He just had to end Finn permanently. He made his left hand into a fist and punched the backside of Finn's right shoulder. Finn lost his balance, leaving his back exposed.

Kylo struck upwards with his blade.

Finn briefly felt the hot blade rip through his back before his eyes shut from the sheering pain.

He opened his eyes again...and saw Rey, lying unconscious in the snow.

 _No. This can't be right._ He whispered mentally to himself as he knelt down near Rey. "No, no, no! Rey!" The sound of Kylo's lightsaber being swung around snapped Finn's sight from Rey.

"TRAITOR!"

His breath caught in his throat. _This...it's as if this has happened before...I thought that-_

_**Finn.** _

Finn's adrenaline pumped even faster through his veins. He had never heard that voice before in his life. There was no one else around to say it. _I can't worry about that now._ He grabbed Rey's lightsaber from her and stood up from the ground. _I have to stop Kylo before he kills Rey._

**_Finn, listen to me. Listen to my voice._ **

Finn hesitated to turn look around, even though Kylo was waiting from him to do so. _Who are you?_

_**That's not important. Right now, you need to stop fighting Kylo and run away from him.** _

"I can't..." Finn spun around and ignited the lightsaber, the blue blade activating with a hiss.

"That lightsaber...it belongs to me." Kylo once again uttered this claim without a doubt that he was the rightful owner of this blade.

Finn heard the unfamiliar voice through his mind again. **_Finn, you are reliving the same battle over and over again. You need to stop and run away. You need to wake up._**

 _Wake...up?_ Finn's breathing became heavy. As Finn faced Kylo he couldn't help but think again that he had already lived this before. Several times before. Pieces began clicking in his mind as his memory cleared from the haze that had been covering it. He started remembering the numerous times that he had been fighting Kylo...and losing, only to repeat the same battle over and over again. Finn assumed the worst _I...I'm dead, aren't I?_

**_No. You're in a coma but if you keep fighting him you will never wake up.  You need to run from him. Don't look back and keep running._ **

Finn was about to question the voice when he suddenly heard a different voice in this mind.

**_"Angela...Ang."_ **

Finn knew that voice. "Poe?"

Poe's voice didn't answer.

"...Angela?" Finn assumed the other voice to be named Angela but the voice didn't even reply back. Both of them were gone. And Finn was alone. He now had a choice to make. However, he found it easy, now knowing that this whole scenario was just a dream. He deactivated the lightsaber and ran in the opposite direction of Kylo. Finn heard Kylo's voice far behind him.

"Come back with that lightsaber, traitor!"

Finn didn't turn around to look behind him. He kept on running as fast as his legs could carry him. He had to get out of this coma. He had to wake up.

 


	10. Rising Darkness; Unlocked Potential; Secluded Rest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously though feedback would be sweet because idk what I'm doing anymore lol

_"Revenge is a confession of pain." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Lethal Trackdown~_

* * *

 

Numerous thunderstorms raged above the watery world of Kamino. Lightning streaked through the murky clouds while thunder cracked through the moist air. The sunlight that usually glistened on the gentle waves of Kamino had been snuffed out for more days than anyone at the secret home base could remember. Darkness thrived among darkness.

Ever since he woke up, Kylo had been in the large, open training room, that was located in the lower levels of the base. Holodroids were being defeated left and right from Kylo's attacks. His anger smoldered within him as he looked upon each holodroid with hate, the holodroids taking on the appearance of that girl that had defeated him. HIM! And with his grandfather's own lightsaber as well. It was adding insult to his injuries.

He chose for the holodroids to take Rey's appearance to make him stronger. He knew it would strengthen his power within the Dark Side while weakening the miniscule light that desperately tried to call him back. He thought that he had destroyed the Light in him by destroying his father, but upon waking up, he felt it. It was weak and miniscule but it was still there, trying to persuade him back. This only enraged him more as he sliced, hacked and pummeled through the holodroids with both his crackling lightsaber and the power of the Dark Side.

 _I have to get rid of it. Destroy it all before I lose myself to it. I must!_ Kylo broadly swung his blade, striking down another holodroid as arcs of electricity jumped around it from its severed wiring. He relentlessly continued to mow down waves of holodroids, unaware that Snoke was monitoring him through live security footage.

Snoke did not like the situation at hand.

Before his days as Kylo, Snoke felt Ben's moment of conception. Snoke had felt that tiny life's enormous potential. When Ben came into the world, the Supreme Leader immediately began to slip thoughts and ideas into his mind. Some were innocent. Some were not. Snoke cleverly manipulated the Force to make his voice sound exactly like Ben's own conscious thoughts to himself...and Ben believed that the hypocrite's voice **was** his own thoughts.

The rest of Snoke's plan had been accomplished by default through Ben's responses and actions. As he grew up Ben heard both his own voice and the masked voice of Snoke in his mind. This off course his own mother and father had noticed. Every time they tried to get their son to tell them if something was bothering them he would brush it off as something else or deny that nothing was wrong, and Snoke loved it. Ben would play into his hands. Then, the worst situation occurred.

Ben went with Luke Skywalker to train to become a Jedi.

Snoke had to step up his manipulation tactics. He needed more than words. More inspiration that Ben could relate to, in order to craft Ben into his most powerful weapon. Snoke began to implant more thoughts and ideas into Ben's growing mind but was careful in his influence, as he could possibly be sensed by Skywalker.

Over several more years, Snoke had done it. He kept his manipulative presence, in Ben's  mind, hidden from Skywalker. Ben was now his. He called for Ben to seek him out and he did, leaving without letting anyone of Skywalker's students or even Skywalker aware of his altered self. Once in his presence, Snoke finished claiming Ben as his "weapon", renaming him Kylo Ren. Snoke then wielded his "weapon" to lead a team of Force-sensitives that he had discovered and trained, the Knights of Ren, to destroy every last Jedi, including Luke Skywalker.

Kylo and his Knights had succeeded in killing every last Jedi, except for Skywalker. He had not been on the world when the rest of the Jedi had been slaughtered. Snoke was more than displeased about the situation. He used every last resource, from Kylo and the Knights of Ren to his sinister First Order that operated for his own political motives. Luke Skywalker had disappeared off the grid, both publically and through the Force. He was gone.

However, Snoke felt that the Jedi, less one, were gone. The fledgling Jedi Order had crumbled and was not being restored under Skywalker. Snoke had the upper hand.

Until recently.

The scavenger. The girl that resisted Kylo's power. The one that escaped from their grasps. The one that had injured Kylo in more than just the physical sense. The one that could ruin all that Snoke had build, mastered, and controlled.

_She, more than likely, is with Skywalker now. Another Jedi will be. Her connection to the Force is strong. A very formidable opponent that could beat Kylo with the right circumstances._

While contemplating on the possible scenarios that could arise in the near future, he felt it. The faintest of ripples in the Force, very unique and nearly forgotten. He had felt it long ago and thought it to be destroyed. It could somehow be sensed again in the living Force.

 _It couldn't be...or could it?_ It was selfless, caring, and of the Light Side. He had felt it before and knew where it came from. However, Snoke is uncertain of its authenticity. He needed evidence to prove his suspicions. He also needed to hone in on the tiny spec of Light and figure out its location. For now, he had to side with patience and let it lead him to another chance at seeking out **that** spec of Light with the potential for Darkness.

 _Patience is key. However, my patience for Kylo is thinning. He is losing the power he could have._ Snoke had taken interest in him since his birth because Ben had a natural talent for not just the Light Side but for the Dark as well. Two powers connected, intertwined, and flowing through Kylo. He **had** the ability. His body was strong but his mind, his conscious being, his spirit, were starting to crack from both sides of the Force influencing him. And then, he did break and chose the Dark.

_Ever since he killed his father, his alignment has been growing closer towards the Dark. I wanted him to have and manipulate  both Light and Dark without his mind shattering from the pressures of both sides. He has the capability yet his mind is lacking. If that tiny ripple through the Force acts again, I will seek it out. There is no mistaken where it's from. If Kylo Ren loses the Light from him and embraces the Dark completely, I will find them through that ripple. They will become what Kylo may not._

* * *

 

Back on Ahch-To, Luke had taught Rey several Force skills, from levitating several objects at once, communicating with various wildlife on the island, and sensing unique creatures through the Force.  Rey had caught on well to all of the lessons, even though it had been only a few days since her arrival on the island. Of course this may have been because R2 and Chewy had been off to the side cheering her on and congratulating her every time she succeeded and encouraging her every time she couldn't quite get it perfectly.

Even Luke would tell her not to put herself down because she couldn't get it on the first try. Rey appreciated every word of kindness and gentle advice from Skywalker. Rey never sensed any anger or disappointment in him whenever she tried to practice a skill and failed at it.

* * *

 

Today was a new day. Luke had a new lesson for Rey. They decided to continue using the same stone circle hidden in the small wooden area on the island. As master and student stood in the circle, R2 and Chewy sat on the outside edge, ready to cheer and encourage Rey on once again.   

"Today, we will start something different." Luke used the Force to call a chiseled, wooden pole that was a few inches taller than his height, which was about five feet and ten inches. "You told me that you used my old lightsaber against Kylo Ren. Today, I want you to show me how well you wield your staff."

"My staff?" She slid the staff off of her back, holding it firmly in her hands. "Why my staff?"

"Because, if I'm guessing correctly, you've had that staff for far longer than the lightsaber. You have had more practice with it and know all of its advantages and disadvantages. I want to see just how you use it. Then, we can go from there. Sound alright to you?"

"Of course." Rey smiled anxiously. "What do you want me to show you first?"

Luke twirled his pole in his hand then lunged at Rey suddenly. "Your defense." He attempted to jab her torso.

Thrown off guard, Rey stumbled backward as Luke pulled back his attack to swing his pole upward, aiming again for her torso. She saw the attack and blocked it, pushing Luke's weapon downward.

"Don't hold back. I can take it."

"Apparently so!" Rey covered her shock with sarcasm as she refocused her attitude towards Luke. Before she could get a clear hit on him, he would quickly swing, jab or fake an attack. She stayed on the defensive as her mind tried to comprehend Luke's attack pattern.

"Did you think I wouldn't be so fast?" Luke asked.

"No."

"You were thinking it." He swung high as Rey ducked under the pole. He noticed her prepare for another attack. He hoped she would attempt a strike towards him soon, instead of a purely defensive stance.

Rey noticed Luke take a few steps back. _He's going to lunge again. I'll have to parry his strike if I want an opening for an attack._ As Luke lunged at Rey, she parried his attack to the side. She could see her opening. She felt the Force within her, motivating her...and emanating from her differently than she had experienced before.

She stopped short of lightly tapping Luke in his vulnerable side. Her breath caught in her throat as she noticed that Luke was not moving to dodge or attack her.

"Luke?" She didn’t see him so much as twitch at her saying his name. His stance was perfectly still. Rey then noticed that his strands of white and gray hair that were blowing in the wind were stiff like a chiseled stone...and the wind was not gently blowing anymore. Rey looked over at Chewy and R2. R2 was motionless. Chewy's arms were up and his jaw open. He had been cheering Rey on before he had been frozen. All around her was silence except for her trembling breath.

"What's happening?" Her breathing became jagged, laced with a slowly rising panic. Then, out in the distance, she saw movement.  A tiny bird flew towards Rey. She watched the bird as it got closer and closer to her. However, several meters from her, the small bird's wings flapped slower. Its high chirps stretched out into long squeaks as it faded into silence. Then, the bird's wings stopped. It stopped in midair with gravity not affecting it at all.

Confusion swirled in her mind as Rey tried to figure out this strange event around her. She took a step closer towards Luke, hoping that she could snap him out of this state. As she reached out to grab onto his shoulder, her eyes grew heavy as she slowly lost her balance. She tried to regain her composure but failed to do so as she lost consciousness before crumbling onto the stony ground.

* * *

 

                     "Well, here we are." Poe shut down the two-seat speeder and got out. Angela followed suit and BB-8 rolled smoothly out and onto solid ground.

Angela reached back into the speeder and picked up her backpack from the floor, pulling her left arm through the strap to let the pack rest on her back. She looked at the modestly-built home. It's one story, the outside being made of stone bricks mortared together. The right side of the home had a rather large window, with the front door being a few feet to the right of it. The house had been built in the forest, secluded several hundred meters from the main to the Resistance's new base.

"It's really nice. It's away from the noise."

"Yeah. It is. The trouble is that I usually can't get away from the base to enjoy my place." He sadly smiled at her before nodding towards the front door. "Come on in."

Poe walked to the door and opened it for Angela to step in, followed by BB-8 rolling in as well. Poe turned on the lights, lighting up the main room of his home. It's a decently-sized room. The walls and ceiling differed from the outside, being made of a dark tan, smoothed walls and a ceiling to match. The floor was flat, solid stone just like the outside of Poe's home. The room held a simple couch with a small table in front of it, two wooden chairs, and the far wall was crafted to be nothing but a bookshelf, most of it being occupied by several books of different thicknesses and colored spines.

"Whoa." Angela walked towards the bookshelves that made up the far wall. "I didn't take you as the type that loves to read."

"What did you take me as?"

"Someone who has his head in the clouds all the time." She looked back at him. "Literally." She put her attention back on the many books.

"Yeah well, I do have my head up there a lot. But whenever I have free time and I'm home, I read. Anyway, let me show you the spare room."

Angela pulled herself from the collection of books as Poe and BB-8 moved into the next room, which happened to be the kitchen. It was smaller than the last room, consisting of a round, wooden table with three chairs surrounding it, to the right of the room and upper and lower cabinets to the left. It's very quaint in Angela's eyes.

"Bbbrrreeee-eeeepppp." BB pardoned himself as he rolled around Angela and Poe.

Across on the opposite side of the kitchen were two doors, both of which are shut. Angela and Poe walked side by side to them.

"The door on the left is my room. The other one is...the spare room." Poe looked down at the floor as he opened the door for her. The room had been his parents' room. Once full of happy memories and motherly and fatherly protection, from the "scary monsters" that lurked in the dark corners of little Poe's room, the room was now merely four walls, a ceiling, and a floor that held nothing more than an old dresser, a large mirror, and a bed with a simple grey blanket and two pillows.

"I hope you don't mind the dust. It hasn't been used in a long time."

"No. I don't mind at all."

Poe looked up from the floor, seeing her smile back at him.

"Thank you for offering this room for me to stay in while I'm stuck here."

Poe's sadness of his precious memories with his parents faded. He couldn't help but smile back at her. Her smile was contagious. "You're welcome. I'm going to turn in for the night. If you need anything, ask BB. He'll be able to help you. Won't you, BB?" Poe looked over at BB-8, sitting in the middle of the open doorway connecting the main room to the kitchen

"Ttttteeeee." BB cheerfully agreed.

"That's my little buddy." Poe looked back at Angela who had placed her backpack in the middle of the bed. "Sleep for as long as you need to."

"You do the same if the Resistance doesn't need your assistance."

"See you in a little while, Ang."

"L-later." She stuttered as she watched Poe leave the doorway of the room. She waited until she heard Poe close his bedroom door before walking over to hers and closing it gently as well.

"Ang. Why did he give me that nickname? We...he barely knows me." She kept her voice to a whisper, not wanting Poe or BB-8 to hear her talking to herself.

"This is a _fantastic_ mess you've gotten yourself into this time. Not only are you on the same planet as a Skywalker, who could very well know about you, but you are now on the run from the First Order, after staying hidden from them for so long." She threw herself onto the bed, landing on the front of her body. She rested her left hand on her backpack. "As long as I think through everything I do and say, I should be okay." Pushing her pack over to the far side of the bed, Angela began to pull off her boots.

"Might as well try to get as much sleep as possible while I'm here. I can't go anywhere until the maintenance crew finds the parts to build a power cell for my fighter, even though I'm certain that someone took it while Poe gave me the tour." Her eyes became heavy as she finished preparing herself for a relaxing sleep. She slid under the simple blanket and rested her head on one of the pillows.

"I'll think about that tomorrow." Remembering her backpack, she grabbed it, pulling it close to her. She did not want any curious eyes to see the contents within. She took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly as she drifted off to sleep.


	11. Training with Time; Dual Nightmares

_"If you ignore the past, you jeopardize your future." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~ The Mandalore Plot~_

* * *

 

"Rey."

Rey's eyes fluttered open as she gasped in a large breath. She awoke to find herself lying on the ground with Luke, Chewy, and R2 surrounding her. Energy started returning to her as she slowly sat up.

"You gave us a scare, Rey." Luke kept a careful eye on Rey as Chewy assisted her to her feet.

"I scared myself too."

"Do you remember what happened? Did you feel anything before passing out?"

"No. I saw...something." Rey motioned towards one of the stone benches, asking without words if he would like to take a seat next to her. He nodded and they both sat down on the bench, with Chewy and R2 standing off to the side nearby, since neither one knew they couldn't offer any advice on the matter.

"What did you see?"

Rey pictured the event in her mind. "I made a move to dodge your attack. It was as if I knew where you planned to swing. Then, you froze."

"Froze?"

"Yes. You, R2 and Chewy didn't so much as twitch. Only I could move around. But the effect didn't happen everywhere. There was a bird that was flying normally, but as he flew towards me, he gradually slowed until he was frozen in midair. That's when I felt all of my energy leave me and I collapsed."    

"Hm" is the only response from Luke as he sat next to Rey. He pondered on the information she had said while stroking his beard, deep in thought about in the matter.

Rey did not say another word, wanting Luke to think about it without any distractions. Yet, she wished that he had an immediate answer for her. Not having the most famous Jedi alive immediately know the answer to the situation made Rey feel insecure and slightly terrified. If Luke wasn’t certain of what had just happened to her, who was? She would be the first to discover this phenomenon and be alone in this new and unknown ability.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting in silence, Rey finally received an answer from Luke. "It sounds as if you somehow managed to slow down everything within a certain area around you."

"What are you saying?"

"I think...no. I know that you, in some way, manipulated one of the very core structures of the Force itself. Rey, I believe you manipulated time."

Rey's eyes widen as the words hit her ears. Reason told her this could not be possible. Her instincts, her feelings, said that Luke was right. The ability to manipulate time as if it was a tangible object. Was it possible? Maybe...but maybe not...

"That can't be possible, can it? What if I just moved so fast that everything seemed to be still?"

"You weren't. The bird you mentioned earlier had been flying normally, while I, Chewbacca and R2 were motionless. However, the bird stopped in mid-air when it flew closer towards you, which means that it flew from an area of normal time flow closer to you, the area where time had slowed down completely."

 "If that's the case, how come I didn't remain motionless? I managed to take a step forward before I passed out."

Luke chose his words carefully as he answered Rey in the simplest way he could. "Time around you remained the same because you were the one bending it to your will but doing so put a lot of strain on your mind and body. So, when you took that one step, both your mind and body couldn't spare the focus and energy, causing you to collapse. Does that make sense to you?"

"Your explanation, yes. Why or how I did it, no."

"That I can't explain. Only you can figure out how you used your ability. None of the students that I had taught had any ability to manipulate time. In fact, I don't know of anyone in the history that I know to even come close to it. You are the first that I know of."

_The first. Luke had not experienced it or even knew that this could happen. I truly have no one who can guide me with this new power. Then again, I had no one to help me figure out many things. I may not have had anyone growing up but I have someone who can be by my side in figuring out this "time power"._

"Giving what just happened, I'm going to let you decide what you wish to do, whether that be continuing to practice what we were, work out this new skill you've found together, or even call it a day. I'll leave the choice up to you."

"I want to know how I was able to stop time." Rey had made her decision before Luke had finished speaking. "It scares me. Power that causes fear can never be controlled and I do want it to consume me simply because I fear and do not understand it. For the rest of the day, I want to continue this new power."

"Very well." Luke smiled at her attitude and determination. She reminded him of how he wanted to gain knowledge, albeit in a more careless, stubborn way. Still, he admired her tenacity. "Let's begin again. This time, I will follow your lead. I'll listen to your every word and help you in any way I am able."

"Thanks, Luke." Rey got up and walked back over to the middle of the stone area, picking her staff off of the ground. She believed that repeating the situation, that occurred early, with the same similarities and mindset should help her to bend time again. At least, that was what she hopes will transpire.

"Alright. Let's do this."

* * *

 

Darkness. The bleakest shade of color.

Silence. The absence of life and the audible sound of complete loneliness.

From these two, the sense of touch made itself known to its wielder. As they felt the course floor with the tips of their fingers, silence faded into the sound of their own shallow breaths and their beating heart. Their mind began to function normally again as they discovered from running their fingers along the surface in their reach that they were lying on the ground. They also felt a tremendous weight that was keeping their whole body pinned down. It didn't matter. They had their mind and they had the will of the Living Force with them.

They focused on the energy around them as they channeled it down and around the several unidentifiable pieces of rubble that held them down. As they made the energy rise, so too did the rubble climb upwards until they were able to slowly crawl out from underneath it. Darkness, much like the silence, vanished into the unbearable brightness from the light. As they crawled into the light and were clear out of the rubble, they released the energy from around it, causing the rubble to crash down onto the ground. As they rose to their feet, the world around them appeared to be dry and flakey with two suns setting off towards the horizon.

"Wait. I know this place."

"I would hope so."

They quickly turned around to see a holo-droid resting against a pile of rubble. The droid kept its yellow sight-receptors on them, making no attempt to stand up to face them. The droid scanned them and picked up on several readings. “According to my readings, you are terrified.”

“…”

“There is nothing to fear.”

“Expect there is. This is the past. I must be dreaming again.” They turned to look away from their broken past.

“This is no dream. It is merely a reality that has happened and is happening again in your mind.” The droid finally decided to stand up and walk up behind the person that they had been programmed to raise. “You know there is a reason you are reliving this past now.”

“Yeah but what reason?” They kept their eyes off of the droid. They weren’t ready to face it.

“Do you wish me for tell you the answer to your question?”

They decided to face the droid. The past. The answer. Even though they were terrified, they had to confront it. The Force wanted them to accept it. “Alright.” They turned around to face the droid. “What is the answer, Proxy?

As their gaze locked on Proxy’s eyes, they were struck with a surge of electric from Proxy’s metallic hands. A mere second later and Proxy had ceased electrocuting them.

“Proxy! What the hell was that for?!” 

“Because I know that the only way you will use the Force is if your body is forced into it, Angela.”

Angela slowly reached behind her and pulled her shoulder length hair over her left shoulder. It was no longer just blonde. It was blonde and black, interchanging with one another. “What have you done, Proxy?”

“I have given you the answer.”

To say that Angela was frustrated would be an understatement. “What? I don’t understand. How does me using the Force help anyone? It certainly didn’t help me. In fact, it never has! It’s only caused chaos, whether it was to me or anyone that knew me.”

“Ah, but this time, you will have more control over your power. Before, you had nothing that you truly desired. I think you know just what that is, if you accept it.” Proxy outstretched his hand towards Angela, who didn’t move away from him. “Once you accept it and yourself, the universe will change and so will you.”  

Proxy slowly took his index finger and touched Angela’s forehead. She was about to ask what he was doing but was quickly washed over with darkness as her vision faded from a nightmare…

…to a plain white ceiling.

Angela just stared blankly at it for a few minutes. Part of her did not want to move. The other part of her wanted to look at the mirror that was off to the left side of the bed. Her mind was battling for an answer until she finally caved and slowly turned over onto her left side to look into the tall mirror. The reflection that looked back at her had blonde hair.

She sighed and then let out a faint chuckle. “You idiot. It was just a dream.” She pushed herself upright, throwing the blanket off of her so that she could sit on the edge of the bed. She looked again at her reflection, soon shaking off the dream and standing up from the bed. “Just…a dream.”

Angela had no idea how long she had slept. Looking through the window, that was above the bed, she saw that the sun was beginning to rise. “I wonder with Dameron is up yet.” She decided to see if he was, leaving the bedroom and entering into the kitchen.

Angela looked over to see that Poe’s bedroom door was open. Peering inside, she saw that Poe’s bed was not made. Then, she noticed that there was something on the table near her. Walking over, she found a hastily-written note.

_“Something amazing happened at the base. Decided not to wake you up and wrote this note instead. Will explain when I get back later.” -Poe_

She smiled at the note as she let it fall back onto the table. Poe’s home was left to herself. She didn’t want to head to the base, not at that moment. However, she was curious about the books that she had seen yesterday and walked into the living room to see what book would catch her attention first.

_Once I burn myself out reading, I’ll head over to the base. Besides, I have to know how far along the maintenance crew is in repairing my Starfighter._

A beige book, with the title of “A Tome of Tales”, caught her attention. She pulled the book out and took a seat on the couch. This would kill some time, as well as some of the stress that she felt from her nightmare. Her focus would leave the dream and center in on the world that the book would build out of its words.

* * *

 

His feet were beginning to drag. He felt like he had been running forever at this point.

“Give me back what is mine!”

Kylo Ren’s voice pierced through the snowy air, only giving Finn a sudden burst of energy to pick up his pace again. He couldn’t let Kylo reach him, no matter what else happened in this nightmare-induced coma. With each rushed step he took, Finn began to consider a different plan, besides just running.

_Maybe if I give him the lightsaber, just drop it on the ground behind me, he’ll leave me be and I can escape._

“When I catch up to you, I will deepen the cut on your back!”

 _Never mind. I’ll just hold onto this lightsaber a bit longer._ Finn picked up his pace again, wanting to keep a good distance between him and Kylo. Finn kept looking forward. His chocolate-tinted eyes caught sight of darkness that was he was approaching.

He stopped just before he reached it. It looked to be a very deep canyon. It stretched out of Finn’s sight, whether he looked left or right. Gazing into it made him feel as though it was bottomless. He was now trapped between a gap he could not jump and an enraged Sith with a crackling lightsaber to match his attitude.

Finn regrettably turned around. Just a few yards in front of him was Kylo. The Sith was just standing there, staring at him menacingly. Finn looked behind him. The canyon was unfortunately still there. There was no way he could run past Kylo this time. Either he was going to fight or he was going to jump.

 _The voice. Angela. They told me to run, not fight him anymore. If I can’t run anymore…_ Finn took in a deep breath as he closed his eyes. He took a step back and let his body be controlled by gravity as he fell backward into the canyon.

He wanted to scream yet, at the same time, did not want to. The feeling of the fall was intense but Finn knew that it would lead him to somewhere else. He hoped it would lead him back to the realm of the living.

The longer he fell, the more his senses began to awaken. The first thing he noticed was a voice. He couldn’t quite place who owned the voice but believed them to be talking about him.

“You should get here quickly.”

…

“Yes, I believe he will soon be. You should be here when he does.”

 The next to slowly return to him was his sense of smell. The air he now breathed on his descent smelled unnaturally clean. It had the smell of a medical facility that was kept at top notch. He didn’t care for it.

Next, he felt as though he was lying on something. Instead of the feeling of falling, he felt himself being horizontal on a soft yet firm surface. It was quite comforting and Finn was thankful for it.

The last thing he received back was his sight. Even though he had shut his eyes as he fell into the canyon, he still witnessed a light becoming more intense and bright until…he stopped.

The feeling of falling had stopped. He eased his eyes open, noticing a very familiar face sitting to his right. He couldn’t help but smile at them. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself. Welcome back, Finn.” Poe returned Finn’s smile.

It seemed as though good fortune was on their side for once.


	12. The Knights and Kylo

_“The path to evil may bring great power, but not loyalty."_ -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Witches of the Mist~

* * *

 

 

He continued to focus. The tiny ripple was slowly forming into a wave the more he reached into the Dark Side. He had to find it. It was another chance to bring the galaxy under one government, one rule. Not only would Kylo Ren be under his direct influence, but also the Halva would be too. Two powerful pawns to move around the galaxy wherever he saw fit. Then again, Kylo was slipping rapidly into the Dark. While he had already had a solid connection to the Dark once he took him as his apprentice, it was when he killed his own father that Kylo slipped completely into the Dark.

Snoke felt that happen very clearly.

Snoke reached even deeper into the Force. He could feel the barely feel the Halva. Her presence within the Force was wavering in and out of his perception. They were purposefully concealing their presence. Something had to happen or else he would never figure out their precise location. Just like the situation with Luke Skywalker. He couldn’t find the last Jedi because he had been able to perfect concealing himself within the Force.

Snoke would be damned if he couldn’t at least find the Halva.

 _You will eventually reveal yourself within the Force, Halva. Whether you do it yourself or the Force wills it to happen. I would prefer you to show yourself sooner rather than later. Patience is a virtue that I possess naturally. If I could wait for Kylo Ren to willingly join me, then I can wait for you to be revealed to me as well._  

The galaxy continued to move, from the orbiting of planets to the life cycle of the tiniest insect. Through all these things, the Force existed, was within and around all things. Within a speck of a moment of time, he felt the Halva. It was faint but clearly present. The Force had tried to tell the Halva that they should come out of hiding. The Halva simply ignored the Force.

It didn’t matter to Snoke. He knew where the Halva was now. He could now begin his next phase of the plan. He ordered for one of his nearest guards to summon **them** in. Of course, the guard knew who he was implying and immediately left to call them in.

It wasn’t long before all six of them strode into the room and promptly knelt in front of where Snoke had been sitting in thought and meditation for quite some time. He didn’t waste another moment of his time as he spoke in a relaxed but demanding tone.

“It is time for all of you prove your places yet again. I sensed a great disturbance in the Force. This is not the scavenger that you were made aware of. This is something very new to all of you. Another Force-sensitive has made themselves known to me within the Force.”

One of the bolder Knights spoke up but did not raise his gaze up from the ground. He knew his place. “Supreme Leader, we have taken on Jedi before. Someone like that does not faze us. Why would this one being be so difficult, if the six of us are being sent?”

Snoke rose from his seat and walked to the verbal Knight. “Rise.”

That one word, uttered by Snoke, was enough to get the Knight’s adrenaline pumping. The Knight rose and forced himself to look up at Snoke, since the Supreme Leader was slight taller than he was.         

“Since you seem to be so certain that this “Jedi” will be easily defeated, I am placing you in charge of the Knights to go where they are and strike them down.”

“Supreme Leader…” The Knight, while rather proud that he was going to lead the Knights of Ren, was confused as to why Snoke would say this. “What of Kylo Ren? Surely he would-“

“Kylo Ren is on a mission of his own making. He won’t be leading you in this mission. Focus on nothing but what I want, until I say so otherwise. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” The appointed leader of the Knights of Ren uttered with severe conviction.

“Excellent. Now, all of you, focus on what I am about to say. For, it is the plan that I want you to use and **nothing** else.”

* * *

Kylo’s power was growing. He could feel the power with every heartbeat. It was felt like lightning was coursing through his veins. And lightning it was. He let it fly from his fingertips, the lightning striking shorting out holo-droid that had Rey’s countenance.

While the sight was pleasing to him, it lasted just a few seconds. Every time he struck down a holo-droid, the sensation of revenge shortened. Once the visage of Rey disappeared from every holo-droid he destroyed, the reality of what he knew returned with intensity.

“This is just an endless cycle of fleeting satisfaction.” He mumbled to himself, continuing to strike down holo-droids with both the Force and his crimson lightsaber.

“I must find her.” He crumbled a holo-droid into a sphere of scrap metal and wires. He then sliced another droid in half before it could strike with its blade. “And when I find her, I will find Skywalker and strike them both down.”

Another holo-droid of Rey silently walked into striking distance of Kylo’s back and raised its blade over her head to deliver a downward slash. The only thing that tipped off to Kylo that the droid was behind him was his own shadow was stretched out on the floor in front of him, indicating a strong light source was close behind him. He ducked down and spun on his heels to slicing cleanly through the holodroid’s midsection. The image of Rey glitched out and the two pieces of the droid clattered onto the floor.

“But where do I start? I don’t have the map to Skywalker. The Resistance does.” He deactivated his lightsaber, having sliced through the last holo-droid he had activated for the session.

He sat down on one of the benches that were off to the sides of the massive training room. He verbally thought out a possibility on tracking down Rey and Skywalker.

“If the Resistance has it, then there will be some there that will know where Skywalker is on the map. However, the Resistance base will no longer be on D’Qar. It will take some time before the First Order will find the Resistance base, if General Hux has the brain cells to get his men to gather intel and planetary searches.”

It struck Kylo. “Perhaps if I inform Snoke about my idea, he will at least listen and have some sort of advice for me to act upon. This mission will make me immensely powerful if I can complete it in its entirety.”

Kylo stood up and walked out of the training room. Snoke would be in his personal chambers, which were clear on the other side of the facility of Kamino. The violent thunderstorm from earlier was still raging on. Luckily, his route to Snoke’s chambers was completely inside the refurbished facility. He walked at a steady yet normal pace. It would give him time to collect the words he wanted to say to Snoke. He didn’t say his ramblings out loud. He wanted to hear the rumbling of the thunder through the air outside, the pattering of the rain on the window that was on his right, and his footsteps that echoed in the hall he traversed.

The sounds came together and gave Kylo some form of reassurance in his walk to Snoke. The turmoil that was outside solidified his feelings on the inside. It was a confidence boost he was glad to receive at this point. He had recently lived through a series of failures that had cut down his believe in himself. The atmosphere from the thunderstorm raging upon Kamino was an event Kylo personally would have thanked, if it was a living, conscious entity.  

It took about five minutes for Kylo to get in sight of the door to Snoke’s chambers. With each step closer to the door, Kylo began to sense unique energy signatures through the Force. They were all too familiar to him. The one he instantly felt was Snoke, naturally. The other six were the Knights.

 _Odd._ Kylo thought privately. _They are here on Kamino as well. I didn’t sense them until now. I can usually feel their presence farther than this._ He began to form reasons as to why as he stopped a foot away from the door. _How could I not know they were here? It’s like their presence in the Force was…being masked._

Kylo placed his left hand on the wall and focused fully on the energies within the room. The emotions were a variety. There was pride, anger and exhilaration from the Knights. Kylo knew this to be natural with them. However, there was another emotion that was not normal.

Confusion.

Kylo had known the Knights for years. Not once did any one of them ever give off the feeling of confusion. In fact, the Knight feeling this emotion was Sudeac, the eldest of the Knights in terms of Knighthood. He was always determined in whatever he was commanded to do, especially when the orders came from the leader, Kylo, himself. He never questioned orders, thus solidifying his loyalty as a Knight. But this… This confusion from him meant that something was contradicting to what he knew and believed.

He continued to look at the closed door to Snoke’s quarters with no intention of asking Snoke for some insight for his mission. His thoughts were putting pieces together that kept forming questions that had no solid answers.

_Wait. Why am I not in there? I was not summoned. That means, Snoke is commanding them to do something that won’t involve me. But…what could that be? The ability of what they can achieve is limited with me. I’m the only one that can wield the Force. That’s why I was given the leader title._

Kylo slowly and quietly turned and walked away from Snoke’s quarters. There was no way that Snoke would tell him what the Knights were going to do if he wasn’t even invited in the first place. No. He had another way to figure out what the Knights were going to do for the Supreme Leader.

His next stop was the main hangar bay in the refurbished facility. As he walked into the expansive area, he immediately spotted the landing shuttle that the Knights always used in traveling between planets and their main cruiser, a smaller design of the Maxima-A class ship _Ravenous._

Kylo had realized that if he were to use some tech, along with what he could do with the Force and with his lightsaber, he could get much more missions done more satisfactory **and** on his own. All the responsibility would be his, along with the rewards reaped from them. He slowly neared the ship and took out a homing beacon from one of the clips on his belt. He sent the device flying across the room with the Force. It collided, locked onto the underside of the shuttle and activated.

 _Excellent._ Kylo stood in place for a moment, taking in the sights as if he was monitoring the First Order workers going about their jobs. _Now, to just wait for them to make their move._

The workers had noticed Kylo Ren at this point. Just a glance at him and they immediately hurried themselves to finish their tasks, hoping that they wouldn’t have to engage in a conversation with him. All of them knew Kylo Ren to have intense outburst of anger and would take it out on objects…and living beings. They just wanted to make it through another day, whether it was for the paycheck, their families, or the First Order solidifying its power to unify the galaxy.

Every time he could feel the fear radiating off them.  Besides Snoke, Captain Phasma, General Hux, and Sudeac, every person he knew, had ever interacted or been near him feared him. It made him feel that much more alone within the First Order.

 _Why do I care so much about what others think?!_ He mentally scoffed at himself. _They should fear me. I can destroy them before they would have a fighting chance to defend themselves. And yet, it would be nice to have someone who was on the same level as me. Who would understand what I fight for and wouldn’t treat me as a weapon or belittle me as if I was a child._ He once more mentally kicked himself for such thoughts of reliance. _I don’t need anyone’s company.  Anyway, the Knights will soon leave on whatever mission Snoke has sent them on. I must prepare to follow them._

* * *

Sudeac had finished gathering the equipment he deemed necessary for the mission. Nothing more, nothing less. He stared at his fair skinned, brown-eyed face in the mirror before putting his metallic mask on him. Feeling that none of his short brown hair had snagged on the mask’s clips, he walked out of his quarters, making sure to snatch up his electrostaff on the way out.

“Sudeac.”

Sudeac looked left to see the owner of the voice, Songar Akram, and Ayimul. They both had their songsteel claymore and lightwhips respectively.

“Songar, Ayimul, are the others ready?” Sudeac asked.

“They said they would be at the shuttle.” Songar answered.

Ayimul sighed. “They are always rushing. They should learn to enjoy these missions we go on, instead of blowing through them just to move on to the next ones.”

The three of them walk together towards the hangar, which housed their shuttle. While heading there, they talk amongst themselves. It was one of the few things that they indulged in together. They even, to an extent, respected each other’s opinions and viewpoints.

Ayimul observed that Sudeac’s thoughts were elsewhere as he talked to her and Songar. She had a pretty solid hunch as to why and decided to pry further. “Sudeac.”

“Yes, Ayimul?”

“The Supreme Leader giving you command of the Knights. It confuses you, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“The Supreme Leader did give you a reason as to why Kylo Ren is not leading us on this mission.”

“He did. However, it is unusual.”

This statement piqued Songar’s curiosity. “Explain.”    

“Even though the Supreme Leader said Kylo was on a mission of his own doing, Kylo would certainly drop it if it meant slaying another being that can use the Force. Sure, he might be on the mission to find the scavenger and Skywalker but not even the Supreme Leader knows their whereabouts. So, Kylo can’t know either. In turn, he would have been more than willing to put his mission on hold to lead us in defeating this new Force-wielder.”

“Perhaps he was not told of this mission.” Ayimul suggested.      

“That would me the Supreme Leader has a hidden motive, maybe even two.” Songar added. “One may be to test our full capabilities against a Force-wielder when we have no Force-wielder on our side. The other motive…he finds us expendable. He knows there is another Force-sensitive that is not the scavenger. Maybe he finds them to be powerful, open to suggestion, and wants them under his control. He would then have two Force-users to command instead of one. More powerful pawns under your control would sway the odds in your favor.”

The three of them reached the hangar and saw the others waiting near the shuttle. Their conversation stayed among them and fell into their memories as they approached the waiting Knights.

Kalam, who was favored his songsteel battle-axe over any other weapon he could choose from, was leaning against the shuttle and waiting impatiently to get off this rainy, dreary world.

Naver, who sports two songsteel cutlasses, was standing near the front of the shuttle, twirling both blades in his hands.

Sulihin, favoring his heavy-duty, songsteel lance, nodded at the three approaching Knights and kept in silence. He was never one to speak freely. But whenever he did, every Knight immediately fell silent and gave him their attention out of respect for his words. Every word from him was deep, insightful and eerily unnerving.  

Sudeac slightly raised his voice to give his words more weight to them, even though what he was going to say already known to all the Knights. “We know our mission. Take down the Force-sensitive that the Supreme Leader told us about. This mission will require immense stealth and observation.” He pointed at Kalam. “That means don’t kill the first living being you see. Wait until we are certain it’s the target.”

Kalam rolled his eyes behind his mask. “Fine. Just this once.”

Sudeac continued with his informal speech. “Once we have the target, we will act swiftly and securely. We will not have the First Order as a means of cover while we do this. Treat this as a high-profile assassination contract.”

“Ah.” Naver sighed. “I was hoping like Kalam that I could slit some throats.”

“Only if there are witness. And we will take out the target only when they are alone.” Sudeac corrected. “We will follow the Supreme Leader’s command to the letter.”

Sulihin walked to the back of the shuttle and activated the ramp to lower. He was the first one in, followed by Kalam, Naver, Songar, Ayimul and lastly Sudeac. Sudeac sat in the pilot’s seat while other others sat down on the side benches in the back. The shuttle was soon up and flying out of the hangar on Kamino. It destination would be the main cruiser for the Knights that was orbiting the planet.

Little did they know that their shuttle was being tracked by Kylo, who had been waiting in his quarters for his sensor to indicate that the tracker was moving. Once it was he left and went to his own command shuttle. Since he wanted to be alone for this mission, he got into his shuttle and got into the pilot’s seat.

“Soon, I will know what mission Snoke has the Knights on and why he hid this from me. Then, I will do what I must to become powerful and more self-reliant, so that I can kill that scavenger girl and Skywalker.”     


	13. Flow of Time; Catching Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a bit. I hope this chapter is awesome and that I get some awesome feedback as well :)

"A great student is what the teacher hopes to be." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Wookie Hunt~

* * *

Several days had passed since Rey discovered her ability to manipulate time. She was still a bit worried about it, even though she had trained rigorous for her body to take the strain from using the ability. The very idea that she could stop everything within a certain radius around her was…unnerving to say the least. The power she had found within herself was able to control a law of the universe.

Luke kept reassuring her that she was not alone and could tell him anything she thought about this new ability, her training or anything she had on her mind that she wanted to discuss. He enjoyed it. After spending a long time alone on the island, it was great to talk to another person instead of just himself. He just hoped that his teachings were helpful to Rey. It had been quite some time since he had taught someone in the ways of the Light Side. That didn’t mean he forgot key points in teaching though. One of the keys was that each student is unique. Thus, their training would be unique to them and, years ago, when he found a new student, he would carefully observe their personality and observe how they interacted with the Force and tailor practice sessions that would benefit them the most.

Rey was vastly unique out of any student he had ever met. Since she had the ability to alter the flow of time, he would have to build a very different training session from scratch, coupled with some familiar techniques that he knew would fortify her learning. She even got to decide how she wanted to spend most of her training doing. Now and again, Luke would switch it up by having one-on-one fights in which he would let Rey practice her skills with her staff while he wielded a sturdy wooden pole. But, seeing how well she managed her staff, Luke believed she was ready for the next step.  

“Today, we are moving a step up from just your staff and my pole.” Luke said to Rey as they walked into the middle of the circular stone.

“We are?” Rey questioned. “Does that mean…”

“Yes. Go ahead and ignite it.”

Rey took the lightsaber off her belt and switched it on. The blue blade pierced out of the hilt with an elongated hiss. She gazed at it and then at Luke.

Luke took off his lightsaber from his own belt and ignited it. It too let out a hiss that was high pitched and rapidly lowered to a steady hum. The green blade still ignited flawlessly after so many years of dormancy.

Rey’s jaw slightly dropped at the sight of Luke’s green lightsaber. “Whoa.”

“Whoa?” Luke threw the word back at her out of perplexity.

“Yeah.”

“You act like you’ve never seen a lightsaber before.” He joked.

“I have.” She chuckled. “But I have only seen this one, which is blue, and another one that was red. I didn’t know they came in more colors.”

“Ah.” Luke understood her surprise. “Well, they do come in a variety of colors. In fact, I know from my research and from personal experience that it all depends on the color of the crystal that is used in the hilt of the lightsaber.”

Rey’s eyes lit up. “Are there yellow ones?”

“Yes.” Luke answered in a chuckle.

“White?”

“Yes.”

“Black?”

“I know of one that was rumored to exist.”

“Are their purple ones?!”

“There are.” He sighed but kept his smile. “But what’s wrong with my old blue lightsaber?”

Rey looked away from him. “There is nothing wrong with blue. It’s just that it’s not my favorite color.”

Luke thought on this for a moment before he came up with a plan. “What is your favorite color, Rey?”

Rey didn’t have to think on it. “Purple. A light purple.”

“Once you have expanded your skills with my old lightsaber, we will go out and you will construct your own lightsaber.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

A tiny squeal of delight managed to escape from Rey’s lips before she immediately recomposed herself to a more adult stance. She moved her ignited lightsaber up into a defensive position. “I’m ready.”

Luke swung his lightsaber so that the green blade was pointed down at the ground. “Are you ready for this or are you just ready to get through this so that you can create your own lightsaber?”

She didn’t hesitate in her answer. “Both.”

Luke walked towards her, his blade still pointed at the ground. He kept his casual composure, as if he was just walking closer to engage in a normal conversation.

Rey knew what he was attempting. It was a ploy that was testing her judgement in others. She had been in this situation many, many times on Jakku. Scavengers would come up to her and talk to her about the day, the weather, anything really. She would, of course, talk to them as well. Part of it was just polite to do so. The other part was she was lonely. She didn’t have anyone close she could talk or work with that would treat her as an equal. Any opportunity to meet someone was an opportunity she could not pass up. Of course, after being tricked, having her salvage stolen from her and being attacked with fists and blunt weapons, she closed herself off and made a staff to make two-faced scavengers think twice about approaching her and to give herself a sense of security. Luke was different though. He wouldn’t actually cause harm to her. Would he?

Rey sidestepped to her left and swung her lightsaber down towards Luke’s blade. He moved his blade upwards forcefully to clash with Rey’s, sending her blade skyward and leaving her torso vulnerable for an attack.

Her instinct kicked it. She threw out her left hand to physically push Luke from her. However, the Force was truly with her. It concentrated on her open hand and shot at Luke. The energy made Luke unsteady on his feet. Rey now had time to collect herself and lunged towards him with her blade. She kept her mind focused on Luke fully, blocking out everything else from all her senses.

It happened again.

Luke was frozen once more as Rey halted in her attack. She grabbed onto Luke’s cybernetic wrist, pried open his fingers and snatched his lightsaber from his hand. As her fingers enclosed tightly around the hilt its humming instantly came back. Now, not only did she hear her lightsaber but his as well. The revelation from this split her focus and brought her and the area around her out of the time freeze.

Luke was looking at Rey. He noticed that she was holding his old lightsaber in her right hand and his current one in her left. He blinked a few times before looking at his empty cybernetic hand. He hadn’t felt anything when Rey had snatched it from him. “Froze time again?”

“Yeah.” Rey looked at the green lightsaber blade before her humbleness kicked it. “Oh, sorry.” She deactivated Luke’s lightsaber and handed it back to him.

“You managed to not only use the time ability again but you also used it to disarm me of my lightsaber and get out of the ability without passing out this time. How are you feeling?”

Rey gave him a soft smile. “A bit light-headed. I also feel more comfortable in this power. I think I know how I can trigger it and stop it now.”

“That’s good, Rey. Confidence in yourself and your power is one of the key aspects to staying within the Light Side of the Force. Fearing your power is fearing yourself and can lead to more destructive thoughts and selfish acts that can make you fall down a dark path.”

“Like…” Rey’s voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “Like Ben?”

“Yeah.” Luke’s voice slightly wavered as his past guilt rose from deep within his soul. “Like Ben did.” He felt the weight of Rey’s hand on his right shoulder. He looked over at her. She wasn’t looking back at him but ahead towards the opening of the woods.

“I may not understand just how hurt you are about losing Ben, your wife, your new order of Jedi. You probably still hold yourself responsible for everything that has happened. Not just with yourself, but the whole galaxy. But, it will get easier. People say, “time heals all wounds”. That’s a lie. Time does mend them enough that you will be able to get through life. However, it will still leave a scar that may hurt from time to time.”

Rey’s word affected Luke greatly.

_She…she’s right. It hasn’t been as bad as the day everything was taken from me. I have been able to live from day to day without as much grief. Sure, I still feel guilt. I probably always will. But with her finding her way to me, that has restored some faith I have in the galaxy._

“Also-“

Luke felt Rey take her hand back as she walked around to face him eye-to-eye.

“You aren’t alone. You have me now. Together, you and I will restore balance to the Force. We’ll take it one step at a time.”

Skywalker was stunned. His mind went reeling over Rey talking gently to him, ensuring him that she would be there. That she would help fix the mistakes that still fed him guilt. Right all the wrongs that stemmed from him trying to restore balance to the galaxy. “I…” He took a moment to find the right wrong but had to settle for a legitimate excuse instead. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much your insight means to me. Thank you.”  

 “You’re welcome.”

* * *

It took him a minute to collect himself. Once he did though, his thoughts began to run rampant. Each thought was selfless. He wasn’t concerned about how bad he had been hurt or how long he had been lying in bed unconscious. He was worried about everyone and everything else. First it was Rey. The last memory of her was of her lying still in the cold snow on Starkiller Base. He then remembered that the Resistance had been dispatched to strike at the base once the shields were down. Finn knew that Poe had made it through, since he was sitting next to his bed, but he didn’t know how many had made it out of that fight. What about Chewbacca? Did he make it too? Is he doing alright?

With each question he asked Finn was attempting to sit up in bed. Poe would gently push him back down while trying to answer all of his questions. Finn wasn’t giving Dameron a chance though, so the pilot gave him a reprimanding stare. Finn noticed this and apologized before falling silent.

“If you lie still while Doctor Riyau checks your condition, I will answer all of your questions the best I can.” Poe assured.

Finn looked up to his right to see Riyau with some type of pointy object in her hand. He refocused his attention back on Poe. He didn’t like needles. “Alright. But I won’t like it.”

“I didn’t say you had to like it. Just try to relax.”

 _Bbbbbreeeeppppp._ BB-8 called him antsy.

“You’re one to talk, you hyperactive, metal ball.” Finn sighed as he gave BB a glare to shut it.

_Rrrrrrmmmm._

Finn put his focus back on Poe. “I’m ready. Please fill me in on everything that’s happened.”

“Okay. Feel free to stop me if you have any questions.”

“You got it.” Finn felt a metallic object touching his right arm and didn’t dare look over at what the doctor could possibly be doing with it, fearing it to be another needle he would be stabbed with.

“Well, first off. We had to move the base so we are no longer on D’Qar. We’re on Yavin 4. Random fact about Yavin 4. My home is here, just a few klicks away. You will be happy to know that the Resistance was able to destroy Starkiller Base. You, Rey and Chewbacca were able to get off the base before it caved in on itself.”

Finn raised his hand and Poe stopped to let him ask the question. “Is Rey alright? Was she hurt?”

“She’s fine.” Poe gave him a gentle smirk as he continued. “In fact, she and Chewbacca left to find Skywalker. She also told me to keep a close eye on you so that you don’t get into quote-on-quote more trouble.”

“She’s one to talk.” Finn mumbed. “She really said that?”

Poe placed his right hand on the Resistance patch on his left shoulder sleeve. “I swear on this symbol that she really said all of that to me.”

Finn looked away for Poe briefly, picturing Rey saying that to him in his mind. He wished deeply that she was here but also understood why she left as well.

Finn looked back at Poe again. “Did she say she would come back?”

“She did. She said she didn’t know when though.” Poe answered in earnest.

“I guess she wouldn’t know exactly when if she went to find Skywalker.” Finn’s heart sank a little at the idea of waiting for an unknown amount of time to see her again. He would have to accept it for now. “Please. Keep going.”

“Let’s see.” Poe had to remember where he left off. “Oh. Well, you have been in a coma for nearly two weeks. Doctor Riyau thought it would be longer, considering the damage your back took.”

“Speaking of which,” Riyau interrupted the conversation. “I must check and see how it’s healing, Finn. Do you think you can sit up on your own?”

Finn didn’t hesitate in replying. “Yeah. I can do that.” He moved his hands on the bed and pushed himself steadily upright. His sight was slightly hazed but cleared with a prolonged blink.

“Great.” Riyau sighed in relief. “Did you feel dizzy or anything else that isn’t normal?”

“No.” Finn lied. “I feel fine.” There was no way he was going to let something as blurry vision, that lasted a second at the most, keep him from getting out of the medical center as soon as he could. He hated places like this. They felt unnatural, in a way.

“Is there anything else I missed out on, Poe?” Finn asked.

“Besides being sent on a mission by General Organa, nothing really. It’s been rather quiet in terms of the First Order and the Resistance.” Poe’s eyes widened, as if he remembered something of importance.

Finn noticed. “What is it?”

“Well, during the mission I was sent on, my X-Wing was blasted to hell. I had to hitch a ride in another fighter. The pilot…well…she brought me back here.”

Finn would have thrown his hands up in a “what the hell” gesture if Doctor Riyau wasn’t checking out the injury to his back. “What? You… I asked you if I missed out on anything else and you leave the part of your ship getting shot up out?!”

“Eh.” Poe shrugged. “It was bound to happen sooner or later. I just glad I wasn’t in it when it was hit.” Poe softly chuckled. “I was also lucky that she was there with a fighter for two or else both of us might not have made it out alive. However, when she went to leave, she found out one of her pieces of the fighter that she built herself is missing. She gave some blueprints to one of our maintenance crews so that they could work on it. Since she didn’t come along, I figured I should just ask the crew for her. See how they are coming along with it.”

“All done.” Doctor Riyau moved out from behind Finn so that he could see her. “So, which news do you want first?”

Finn groaned. He had been hoping it was just good news. Then again, he realized that was wishful thinking. He had taken a lightsaber strike to his back. The fact that he was still alive was still a shock to him. “Give me the bad news first.”

“You will have a scar on your back. It has reduced in size since you got here. It roughly ten inches now, running at a slight angle across your spine.” Her eyes lowered from Finn’s as she let the words sink in.

“Oh.” Finn could only answer. “Well then, what is the good news?”

The Doctor looked on Finn once more as a smile formed on her face. “The good news is the internal damage is gone. It took a surgery and some serious medicinal treatment but you should have no issues in the future because of it.”

“Hey, that’s awesome.” Poe was so relived.

And so was Finn. “Doc, you don’t know how happy that makes me.” He couldn’t help but smile up at the Twi'lek.

“Well then, you’re about to be ecstatic. That is only if both you and Poe agree to my terms.”

Poe raised an eyebrow. “Terms? What terms?”

“First: the deal.” She looked from Poe, down to Finn. “From all my experiences with patients, I’ve discovered that most of them want to leave the medical center as soon as they can. Since you didn’t flinch when I touched your scar, it means that it has healed properly. I am considering discharging you.”

“Really?” A burst of energy came to Finn. He was ready and more than willing to get out of here right now if she was offering.

“Really. Now, for the terms.” Doctor Riyau went from her smile into her professional neutral gaze. “Your terms to me, Finn, are not lifting anything heavy, strenuous exercise or activity of any sort. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Finn agreed respectfully to the terms. Anything to get out of here.

Doctor Riyau looked across to Poe. “Your terms, Dameron. You keep a close eye on him. If you see him unsteady on his feet or looks like he is hiding any type of pain, you bring him back here immediately.”

“Of course, Riyau.” Poe agreed to her terms sincerely.

“Um…I’m lying right here, you now.” Finn reminded the both of them.

“We know.” Both of them reply in near unison.   

“What? Doc.”

Riyau gazed down at Finn. “Yes?”

“I’m pretty sure I can judge my health better than Poe. I mean, it is my body. I know my limits.” Finn sounded convincing. At least, he thought so…until Riyau had to state her input without the slightest form of uncertainty.

“Ah. But you are my patient. And I know that patients tend to bend the truth just enough to convince themselves that they are fine. That way they trick themselves into staying from medical centers and increase their chances of making an injury more worse than it has to be.”

Finn didn’t have a counterargument for her. _If I could argue with her, she would still have something better to say that would totally be true. Just drop it, Finn. You’re still getting out of here. Just don’t show any signs of pain to Poe and you’ll be just fine._

“Gentlemen. You may leave whenever you are ready. I will finish the paperwork to make everything official. I better not see you here unless you are completely well and just want to drop in to say hi. Understood?”    

“Yes ma’am.” Both men said.

Doctor Riyau left the two of them to leave on their own accord, since she had to get back to her other tasks. As Finn swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood up slowly, he focused on his balance. His body hadn’t been prepared for the transition from a horizontal to a vertical position.

_Hold it together, Finn._

“Here.” Poe placed a new set of clothes into Finn’s hands.

“Thanks.” Finn was grateful that he would soon be out of the medical gown and into a new set of clothing.

“We’ll wait for you outside.” Poe said as he gave Finn some privacy to change. “Come on, BB.”

BB-8 answered with a “ _crrrrrreeee **”**_ and followed Poe out of the medical center.

Once Finn was alone, he took a closer look at the attire and remembered…

The jacket that Poe had given him. The one he had given to Rey to keep her somewhat warm on Starkiller Base.

It had been sliced in two.

It was gone.

* * *

Finn walked out of the medical center. Poe ceased leaning against the wall and nodded in the direction that he was going. Finn walked on his left and BB-8 rolled on his right.

“Where are we heading?” Finn asked, hoping that it would be someplace quiet and away from the base if it was a possibility.

“I figured that my place would be a great for you. That way, nobody from the Resistance would bother you and you won’t have to stress over anything happening around you.”

 _Right._ Finn thought to himself. _Poe did mention his home is here._

“That sounds great.” Finn complacently replied.    

“However, before we leave, I have to check up with some of the maintenance crew.”

Finn’s heart dropped a bit but he shrugged it off. It wouldn’t even take five minutes. He could accept that.

Poe and Finn reached the maintenance crew that was working on Angela’s Starfighter, in the main hangar of the base. Or rather, they were supposed to be. They were looking both in and around the fighter, as if they were searching for an essential piece.

 _This doesn’t look promising._ Poe sighed. _I hope I’m just overthinking this. If not, Angela won’t be happy about this._

Finn, while wanting to walk with Poe to overhear his conversation with the maintenance crew, left Dameron’s side and walked directly up to the yellow-painted Starfighter. It definitely had seen some action in its time. It did not have a polished look. Several areas had its yellow paint chipped off. The interior had slightly more wear to the console and controls. The pilot seat had minimal wear while the backseat looked untouched. The overall design gave away its age.

 _It has to be at least forty years old, maybe more. I wonder…_ Finn gazed over to see that Poe and every member of the maintenance crew were still talking amongst themselves. BB-8 was also with them, leaving Finn alone to look over the Starfighter without having any judgmental eyes on him. He took his left hand and brushed it across the right wing of the fighter until he felt it. The indents of a symbol.

 _There **is** a symbol on his fighter. Let’s hope it’s one I know of. It would be awesome if I could figure out just how old it is. _ Using the tips of his fingers he followed the slight indentation of each piece, tracing the image out in his mind so he could piece the whole symbol together. _Solid circular center with…five, six, seven, eight. Eight spokes. There are…eight lines above the spaces between the spokes. And…all of it is surrounded in a ring._

“Wait.” Finn’s voice was a whisper. “The symbol is from the Galactic Republic.”

“It only makes sense.”

Finn jumped hearing Poe next to him. He had been so absorbed in deciphering the symbol in his head that he didn’t even Poe or BB-8 come up next to him. Of course, he recomposed himself so quickly that neither one of them noticed that he had been startled.

“What makes sense?” Finn pried. “The symbol?”

Poe nodded. “It’s a Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor. Manufactured by Kuat Systems Engineering and used primary during the last years of the Galactic Republic.”

“Huh.” Finn was rather shocked Poe knew all of that information off the top of his head.

Poe shrugged. “When your mom was a pilot for the Rebellion, you were raised on stories that were flying-based. It also helps that I was interested in flying for as long as I can remember. I thought all of these fighters were in scrap heaps or obliterated once the Galactic Empire rose to power. But I guess not, seeing as how she found and rebuilt one.”  

“Where is she at? The pilot?” Finn wanted to meet this mysterious pilot.

“At my place, which is where we are heading right now if you’re ready.

“Let’s go. The sooner I get away from all the hustle and bustle around here, the better.”


	14. A Time of Tranquility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved the reviews I got on the last chapter :D If I can get some more on this one, that would be awesome!
> 
> Imaginary cookie prizes for people who can guess one or all the episodes of the Clone Wars I mentioned in this chapter!

_“There’s always a bit of truth in legends.” -Ahsoka Tano, Star Wars Rebels_

* * *

 

The _Tome of Tales_ that Angela was reading was very intriguing to her. Several of them were more fascinating to read than others. One was of a Twi’lek girl who befriended two soldiers, then led them to freeing her people from a malicious army of droids. Another tale was of how one rivalry between a Sith and a Jedi caused a trail of despair and sorrow, costing the lives of many and collapsing an entire world’s society into near subjugation through the means of galactic dictatorship. Then, there was a story about an astromech droid that saved the lives of those who would control the course that history would take.

Story after story. Page after page. She read through them consistently, her eyes never leaving the page and her thoughts hardly pausing to think about the stories from different perspectives. That was until she noticed a recurring pattern in all of them.   

_No names. None of these stories have had characters with names. Just generic titles. I wonder why that is._

She turned the page and began the reading the next story. Her mind delved into the setting and characters as she read through.

_Some time ago, in a place that was within yet separated from the galaxy, there was a world in which the entire Force flowed through it. It was everchanging. At sunrise, the world would spring worth new plant life that would dress the world in a vivid array of shapes and colors. When sunset drew and the skies darkened, that life that had just been born would wither away into dust. The world would be left barren with nothing but mountains, cliffs and deep crevasses adorning its surface. That was both sides of the Force, Light and Dark, sharing the world in equal intervals. There was balance._

“Balance…” Angela spoke to only herself, as she was the only one in Dameron’s house. “This has to be a fake story. The rest of them are believable and could have happened compared to this one.” She continued reading.

_On this world were three beings. They were named Father, Son and Daughter._

An annoyed sigh escaped from Angela. “Even when they have names, they aren’t realistic.” She kept on reading into the story, as it was far from over.

_This was their home, a world that was in a realm all its own. Away yet within the galaxy. For eons, the Daughter and Son would clash from time to time. Each time this happened, they risked unbalancing the Force, for both were god-like in their connection to the Force. The Daughter was aligned with the Light. The Son equally so with the Dark. Their quarrels would, on occasion, ripple through the Force and the galaxy would be affected by it, whether if it was eras of peace or times of war. However, the fights between them would soon cease with intervention from the Father. He was the only one in the whole galaxy that could manipulate his children’s powers and connections to the Force and bring harmony between them, time and time again. However, time erodes all, even beings that have lived for time immemorial. As the Father aged, he began to plan for his passing…and his children’s future. He needed someone to take his role as mediator between his children. They must stay on the ethereal world. They must be kept from fighting with one another to keep the galaxy safe from them._

_The answer soon revealed itself. The prophecy of the Chosen One had come into fruition. The Father set out a signal that was soon received. As the Chosen One reached the hidden world, the Father guided his ship in, unaware to the Chosen One’s knowledge that a living being from old times was causing it._

_The Chosen One, along with his mentor and student, left the ship they arrived in and came face to face with the Daughter. While following the Daughter, the Chosen One became separated from their mentor and student and continued following the Daughter anyway. They were eventually led to meet up with the Father, the Daughter disappearing from his sight. They soon discovered that Father called both himself and his children: Force Wielders. To the Chosen One, he seemed older than the concept of time._

_The Father insisted that they rest for the night, since they had traveled for to get to him. The Chosen One, while wanting to reunite with their mentor and student, humbly accepted the gesture. They were shown to their room, which had only a simple mat on the floor. When they turned to thank the Father, he had already disappeared. Their thoughts were on the sudden disappearance, along with numerous more pertaining to the situation, as they lied down on the mat. They kept jumping from one thought to another until exhaustion overtook them and they fell asleep._

“Yeah.” Angela sarcastically agreed with the story. “Sure, they fell asleep. Probably will have nightmare or something will wake them up though.” She said this to herself as she reentered into the story world.

_As the Dark of nighttime fell upon the world, malicious energy intensified. It sought to saturate throughout the land and sky. Its intensity was enough to influence the sleeping mind of the Chosen One, causing them to toss and turn as they found themselves in a nightmare that they had already lived a few years ago._

“Called it.” Angela said.

_However, they were not long in the nightmare before someone was calling they name out. The Chosen One then felt someone run a gentle hand across their face, snapping them out of the nightmare as they forcefully asked who was in the room with them. The voice that answered instantly sent them into a defensive stance away from them._

_It was their mother. It was impossible and yet, there she was in front of her child, the Chosen One. She was just as they remembered when she was happy to have them under her care._

_When the Chosen One stated that she could not be there because she had died, their mother told them that nothing really dies. When that didn’t convince the Chosen One, she told them that she had a secret she wanted to share._

_They nodded._

_She told them that all of the training that they had went through and who they were had led them to this world. She then smiled sadly at their child, asking why they were sad, so she could help them take their pain away. Her child told her that, even though they had the title of the Chosen One and they believed they could be the one prophesized, they still couldn’t save her. They regretted the joy that they felt when they took vengeance upon the ones that had killed her. They admitted that since then, they had only felt love but were terrified that if they let go of it, it would haunt them._

_The Chosen One’s mother leaned against her child, comforting them, in an attempt to sway them to see her point of view. She said that the love they felt wasn’t true. It was an emotion that was holding them hostage. Keeping them from who they truly were._

_The Chosen One couldn’t accept that. They told their mother that their spouse meant everything to them._

_The mother sighed, telling them that love was not their destiny. The Chosen One once again told their mother that they loved them. And then, in an instant, their mother was no more as her voice deepened and echoed and her eyes became black voids out of anger at the Chosen One’s answer._

“Oh damn.” Angela muttered. The base would have to wait. She wasn’t going to put down this story until she read the very last word on the very last page.

* * *

 

To Angela it felt like an instant and yet also felt like an eternity before the story was finished.

The story had added layers and layers of detail and yet kept away key factors. The Force Wielders: Father, Son and Daughter; the Chosen One, the mentor and the student. No real names given to tie it back to reality, except for the Chosen One. Angela had heard that title somewhere before. However, she couldn’t remember where or when. Whether it was heard or read. It honestly irritated her that she couldn’t figure out the significance of that title. All she knew was that it was very important and nothing more.

Another thing she took from this was the effect it had on her. Even though she had read numerous other stories already from this book, this story in particular made her feel a wide range of emotions, from serenity to chaos and everything in between. They were intense and powerful enough to make her worry about her emotional stability. The last time she felt intense emotions like this…her life had been completely and permanently altered. And, it wasn’t a positive change either.

Angela closed the book, got up from the sofa and placed it back in the empty place on the bookshelf. As soon as her touch left the book, she felt an intense heat on the back of her left hand.

“Really? It’s been weeks since you last acted up.” She rubbed the back of her left hand with her other hand, trying to massage the intense heat away like she had several times before. This time it was not going away quickly.

“Alright then.” She walked through the house and into the room where her backpack was. She opened it and decided to just dump it all out on the bed, instead of digging around for them. It wasn’t like Poe or BB-8 where there to see the contents.

She dumped all of the contents out of the backpack and onto the bed. Two cylindrical hilts, that were comprised of pearly and midnight metal, were the heaviest out of all the objects. Their weight left a seeable impression on the bed where they rested. Close to them was a nearly flat, square piece of dull metal that was as small as a tiny bird and as thin as a leaf on a deciduous tree. While nearly weightless physically, it was tons to Angela.

“Sorry.” She apologized to the small metal as she gently picked it up and decided to place it in the smaller front pocket of her pack. “That should be a better spot for you.”

She turned her sights back on the items. The last thing her pack had contained was her pair of fingerless gloves. While they looked ordinary, the left-handed glove had the one side treated in a cooling solution that was normally used in burns. Through experimenting with different items, Angela found this way the best way to ease the heat on her hand, and she kept using it ever since the burning feeling first appeared years ago.

“That should keep it from bothering me, until it goes away.” With the problem solved, Angela picked up the hilts and dropped them back in the backpack before closing and slinging the backpack onto her back.

Angela walked back into the living room, intent on making her way on foot to the Resistance’s base. She had to check in on the maintenance crew that was working the Starfighter…and its missing power cell for the cooling system. It still baffled her where it could have gone. It wasn’t like the Resistance would take it. Even if they did, they couldn’t use it for any of their ships. She had made it to work for her hyperdrive engine specifically. A one of a kind hyperdrive engine. They would know instantly it wasn’t compatible with any other ship just by looking at how it was crafted. However, at this point, she didn’t care how it went missing. She would just be happy if the original cell was reinstalled or another one had been made and placed into her Starfighter.

Angela exited Poe’s home. As the door shut behind her, she heard a faint whirring noise growing steadily louder off towards her left. Turning her head, she spotted the same land speeder that Poe and she had used to get from the base to his place.

 _Well, at least I won’t have to walk to the base now._ Angela walked out from the house and stood on the edge of the dirt path that the speeder would soon glide over. Her gaze stayed on the speeder and she saw that there was another person who was sitting in the passenger’s seat.

It was Finn.

 _He’s awake?_ Angela remembered how lifeless he looked lying on the bed in the medical center. _So that must be the amazing thing that Poe mentioned in the note he left. Finn pulled himself out of his coma. I guess I was able to reach him with the Force. I honestly thought that it wouldn’t work._

Poe brought the speeder to a halt, jumped out and walked around to the passenger’s side to help Finn out. BB-8 used his gadgets to hop out of the speeder and roll over to Angela, to keep out of Poe and Finn’s way.

Finn was already standing up and attempting to get out on his own. He had seen Poe run around to help. “I got it, Poe.”

Poe rolled his eyes as he held out his hand for Finn to take. “Yeah but it doesn’t hurt to have a…helping hand.”

“Was…that your attempt at a joke?”

The only response from Poe was a devious smile.

Finn couldn’t help but smile back, which turned into small chuckle. He took Poe’s hand and steadied himself with Poe’s help until both of his feet were planted firmly on the ground.

“So,” Angela spoke first. “I can assume the note you left was about Finn waking up.”

It took a few seconds before Poe realized and remembered what she was talking about. “Yeah. Sorry. I forgot I had left that note.” He cleared his throat before moving on. “Angela, I would like you to officially meet Finn. Finn, this is Angela, the pilot that brought me back to the base.”  

Both Finn and Angela shook each other’s hand and greeted one another with a “hey” and a smile.

Angela was glad he woke up from his coma. She was also happy that Finn didn’t recognize her voice. At least, she thought he didn’t know her. He wasn’t giving her any strange looks and it didn’t feel like he was figuring her out. She just felt gratefulness, happiness, a bit of sadness. She figured that he must not remember the nightmare he had been trapped it. She believed that, for several reasons, it was better that he didn’t remember the nightmare.

As he shook Angela’s hand, a small feeling of familiarity came over Finn. It was her “hey” she greeted him with. Her voice. He had heard it somewhere before. Then again, her voice was rather normal. Why would it stick out to him? He couldn’t have heard her if she and Poe had visited him in the hospital, even if he had wanted to. He had been in a coma. The last thing he heard was the crackling of that damned red lightsaber that had sliced his back; and, as far as he knew, he didn’t have any dreams while in a coma that he could remember. It was literal, blank gap.

They both took their hands back.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Angela.” Finn told her.

“Same to you, Finn.” Angela replied. “I’m glad you’re out of your coma.”

“Not as glad as I am.”

“You got me there.”

_“Bbbbbbrrrrrreeeeeeee.”_

“Thanks, BB. That means a lot.” Finn said to the droid.

Poe looked over at Angela and noticed her backpack was on her back. “Were you planning on heading to the base, Ang?”

“Yeah. I have to check with the crew and see if they have made a new power cell so that I can get back to Tatooine.” Angela said the half-lie. _I’m leaving this Resistance-occupied world, but I’m sure as hell not going back to Tatooine. I was going to leave in a few days but you, Dameron, just hurried along my plan. They must have built a new power cell for the coolant system by now. All I have to do is get to the base, hop into the Starfighter and just fly off this world. I won’t ever look back._

“Um…” Poe felt his adrenaline spike and flow cold like ice through his veins.

Normally, this would only happen when dogfighting with First Order fighters. The only other time he would ever have this happen was when General Organa would give him “the stare”. While a rare sight from the General, it could paralyze anyone in place while making their mind race through everything that they had said or done to figure out what exactly made the General stare at them. This wasn’t the General though. This was Angela, a woman that happened to cross his path and ended up having to travel the same path as him for the time being. He hadn’t even known her for a week and yet just her saying she was heading to the base in a hopeful tone while giving him a faint smile made him feel the same adrenaline rush. It wasn’t out of fear the General’s “stare” was. It was more…out of admiration. He couldn’t place why he was feeling this towards Angela. At least, not yet anyway.

“Are you alright, Dameron? Your cheeks are starting to turn red. You aren’t getting sick, are you?” Angela asked out of worry. She was oblivious to the true cause of his reddening cheeks. After all, she wasn’t taught in certain areas of life, making her completely unaware of certain things such as blushing.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine.” He hurried past Angela, Finn and BB-8 to get inside his house. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” He disappeared into his house, leaving the three of them outside.

Angela was thrown off by Poe’s reaction. “Hey Finn, is Dameron acting a bit odd all of a sudden?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Just a bit. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” He had a rough idea of why Poe was acting the way he was. All he had to do was confirmed it with Poe when Angela wasn’t around.

Angela sighed. “If you say so.”

Finn mentally recalled what Angela had said just seconds prior. “Wait. Dameron?”

“Yeah?” Angela raised her voice unsurely. “His last name is Dameron, isn’t it?”

“Well, it is. But, Poe is what he goes by to most people. Even when he is addressed by Resistance members, they use his first name, not his last.”

“And your point is?”

“I think Poe would love it if you called him by his first name.” Finn paused then added another point. “It’s also quicker to say than his last name too.”

“Hm.” She contemplated. “You’re right. It is shorter. One syllable instead of three.”

“So, how ‘bout it?” Finn pushed.

Angela looked away from Finn. “I think about it.”

 _“Brrreee-eee-eee-rrr.”_ BB jumped into the conversation. He too was curious why Angela didn’t call Poe by his first name.

“Because…because I call him by his last name. That’s just how I do things.”

 _“Ttttrrrrrrrr-eeeee.”_ The droid snapped back.

“Well, of course I do. As far as I know, Finn doesn’t have a last name.”

Finn stopped her from continuing, wanting to speak for himself. “I-I…hold up. How did you know I don’t have a last name?”

Angela finally returned her gaze at him, coupled with a faint grin as he stood in slight shock. “Well, you defected from the First Order. I then figured the probability of you being with the First Order since early childhood is a possibility, since there are rumors floating around of the First Order raising infants into numerous positions in their organization. That being said, I knew you were a stormtrooper of some level. Meaning, you would have had an identification number that you would have been given once inducted officially into the First Order. And that’s how I deduced that you don’t have a last name.”

Finn didn’t buy it. “Poe told you that he gave me my name, didn’t he?”    

“He did.”

Angela and Finn both couldn’t help but laugh at the conversation they just had. For both of them, they hadn’t laughed in a long time. It was a nice change and it lifted their spirits ever so slightly.

Poe soon came back out of his house, carrying what appeared to be a large metal lunchbox. “Alright. I’m ready.”

“Ready for what? A picnic?” Finn asked, pointing at the metal box.

“Yes, actually.” He pointed right back at Finn as he set the box down on the backseat of the land speeder. “I figured that the three of us could head out to a secluded spot, that I know about, and enjoy a nice lunch.”

Both Angela and Finn looked at each other before turning their attention back to Poe.

“I mean, I’m down for it. I would rather be outside and enjoying this weather.” Finn liked the idea.

Angela hesitated. “I don’t know. I have to check in with the crew at the base. The sooner I know about the repairs to my Starfighter, the better.”

“About that.” Poe informed her. “While I was there I asked them about your fighter.”

“Really? What did they say?”

“Ah. For the answer, you have to join the two of us on the picnic.”

Angela squinted her blue eyes at him. “What are you **not** telling me?”

He threw her a devilish grin. “The answer to your questions. Until you join us in for a delicious lunch near one of the most gorgeous sceneries on this world.”

The reply had stunned her. He had dodged her questions smoothly. Angela chuckled for a moment before she returned his smile back at him. “Very well. I’ll join you two then for this “picnic” thing. A few more hours won’t hurt me.” _I hope._

“Awesome.” Poe motioned towards the passenger’s seat, while keeping his gaze on her.

“No. That seat will be easier for you to help Finn into. I’ll get into the back.” Angela walked around Poe and did just that without any gentlemanly assistance from Dameron.

Finn felt a smile creeping up on his face from Angela dodging Poe’s gesture. He quickly got rid of it before Poe had a chance to see it. “Alright. I’m ready, Poe.” He gave Poe his hand, which Poe took immediately and helped Finn get back into the passenger’s seat of the speeder once more.

“Alright.” Poe looked down at his droid friend. “Hop into the back with Angela, buddy.”

 _“Teeeerrrr. B-b-b-brrrrrrr. Eeeepppp.”_ BB-8 rolled back and forth in one spot, stating he couldn’t come.

“Oh. Are you running low on power?”

_“Eeep.”_

Poe knelt to get on his buddy’s level. “You want to stay here and charge yourself?”

BB answered with a binary yes and told Poe not to be sad. He said he wasn’t going to miss out on much since he was a droid and therefore couldn’t eat any of the food anyways.

Poe gave him a pat on his spherical body. “Okay buddy. If you need me, you know how to contact me. We should be back in a few hours. I’ll let you know otherwise, alright?”

_“Beeebeeee.”_

“I’ll see you later.” Poe stood up, walked around the front of the speeder and jumped into the driver’s seat. “Alright, you two set?”

“I’m good.” Finn answered.

“Ang?” Poe looked back at Angela.

“Ready and waiting.”

Poe switched the land speeder on. “Then, we’re off.”


	15. "There is Another"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Star Wars quote this time because I like this one and there was no really good ones from the Clone Wars Morals. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy and leave some feedback if you can :) I appreciate it all. It drives me to write more!

“Men seek rest in a struggle against difficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes insufferable.” ― Blaise Pascal,

* * *

 “There is Another”

 

The day of practicing lightsaber wielding had come to an end as the bottom half of the sun had fallen behind Ahch-To’s oceanic horizon. The wildlife on the islands began their routines of finding a place to bed for the night. Luke and Rey also decided to head back to Luke’s home to get some much-needed rest. When they could see the home, they both noticed that the tiny firepit in front of the structure was in use. Both of them had a solid guess as to who could have relit it.

 ** _“Gggggrrrrraaaaa.”_** Chewbacca welcomed the two of them back as he placed another chuck of wood onto the fire.

“Bbbrreee-eee-eeee.” R2 also greeted the two of them, twirling his dome around in a complete circle to show how glad he was to see them.

“Hey, you two.” Luke answered. “What did the both of you get into today?”

Chewbacca went on to describe what he had discovered while walking around the island. Most of it was common wildlife that he had seen on numerous worlds he had been on. There were a few tree and plants that he hadn’t though and went on describing them to Luke and Rey, who both had taken a seat near the fire to listen to the Wookie.

As he finished describing one of the flowers he had discovered, he reached into his burlap sack and carefully took it out to show them. It had five, triangular petals that were a purple on the petals’ edges but transitioned into a dark red shade in the middle.

 ** _“Nnnrrraaa.”_** Chewy held it out to Rey.

“For me?” Rey reached out and gently grabbed onto its stem. “Thank you, Chewy. It’s beautiful.” So beautiful, in fact, that Rey placed it in her hair, moving the stem in between her head and right ear so it would stay in place. With the placement of the flower in her hair, a bright smile appeared on her face.

Luke looked over at R2, who was sitting off to his left. “So R2, did you venture with Chewy or did you stay here all day?”

“ _Rrrrr-rrree.”_ R2 answered Luke in the lowest tone his mechanical parts could accomplish. It was a mixture of sarcasm and annoyance, stating that he would have gotten plants and dirt into his treads if he had ventured with Chewbacca.

“Oh.” Luke realized. “I suppose you have a point.”

The droid told Luke that he was built for man-made terrain, since he was man-made as well. He then went on to describe how the floors of the Resistance base were the best floors to move across. Since he was rather old at this point, the floors of the base were easy on him but the place contained enough hustle and bustle to keep his processors working on items and tasks that were happening around him. He was never bored. He had made numerous friends. Even his old, human friend was there too and wished that a certain Jedi were there with them, so that they could embrace Luke like they had in the past.

Luke finally caught on to what R2 was saying. He didn’t figure that just R2 alluding to his sister would make him feel as if he had been stabbed through the heart with a dull blade.

Rey felt the sudden emotional change in Luke. She silently observed him, noticing his eyes lower towards the ground as he stood up from the fire. The energy within him was slow, miniscule but intense. She knew this mixture of feelings well, having felt it every day on Jakku.

  _First was denial, which meant to avoid the thought troubling him if possible._

“It’s getting late and I’m not as young as I used to be.” He turned his back to them, more so to R2. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”

R2 wasn’t letting him slip off, not when he had already brought the topic up. Leia had asked him to help Luke remember that she still loved him, that he was forgiven even though he didn’t need to be. He restated his point, no longer alluding and saying crystal clear to Luke that Leia wanted Luke to come back to her as soon as he could.

_Second was guilt, which stemmed from denial and blocked one from accepting forgiveness from anybody. Excuses would tend to follow._

“I can’t go to the Resistance, R2.” Luke looked back at the astromech. “I’m a target. If I were to leave, Snoke would sense out my location and send the entirety of the First Order to kill not just me but whoever is in their way. Besides, it’s not like Leia needs me.”

R2 was not going to hold back this time. Luke’s last excuse had set the droid’s circuits into a frenzy. The droid new exactly what Leia needed and told him so without any hesitation in his own language. _“Leia **does** need you. She feels miserable. She has lost all of her family, except for you. You have to get back to Leia. She needs you just as much as you need her!” _

As soon as the astromech ended his sentence, Rey felt the last emotion. _Anger, the one emotion she hadn’t felt from Luke._ A tinge of fear could be felt within her but it didn’t grow. She was mostly saddened that Luke felt this way, although it was understandable as to why.  

“R2!” Luke shouted at his longtime friend. He quickly regretted this as soon as he saw the droid back away slightly from him. He buried his anger and lowered his voice. “I said she doesn’t need me.” He walked from the group and into his house, not saying another word to them but to himself.

_“She doesn’t want to see me.”_

R2 sadly whined as he rolled over to Chewbacca and Rey. He had potentially closed the door to the opportunity of persuading Luke to come back to Leia. That was one of the two missions that Leia had given to him, the other one being to be by Rey’s side and help her whenever she asked him to.

“Don’t get too sad about it, R2.” Rey noticed the droid seemingly “cheer up” as he rose his optical lens up to see her instead of the rocky ground. “It’s not your fault at all. He just needs more time is all.” R2 agreed with a chirp as he moved  be closer to Rey.

The three of them continued to gaze at the fire. The embers were beginning to dim, having burned the wood into near charcoal. Within minutes, it looked as though one strong breeze could turned the wood into black dust. None of them made a move to place another chunk of wood into the firepit. Once the flames of light died away, they moved their gazes up into the night sky.

 _“The stars are just as beautiful here as they were on Jakku.”_ Rey thought on this and took it back. _“No. They are more beautiful here. They are mostly new. Different stars. Different worlds. To think that some of them are gone now. And yet, their light can still be seen across the galaxy.”_

Her thoughts drifted into silence as she kept her gaze on the starry sky. Little by little though relaxing soon depleted the energy she had to stargaze and she fell asleep under the clear, nighttime heavens.  

* * *

Rey opened her eyes to see two people standing a short distance from her. At least, she thought they were people at first glance. She soon took it slightly back as she noticed, even in humanoid form, they were nowhere close to being average.

The first being she focused on was the woman. She was at least seven feet tall. Her hair and eyes were teal in tone. It was after this she noted that the lady’s hair was slow swaying up and down on its own. There was no breeze whatsoever, making it seem as if the hair was alive and moved itself. Her skin was unnaturally pale but Rey considered it possible to be that light and moved on to note her attire. Her dress was nearly as pale as she was and did not have any designs or patterns on it. It was as if the dress had been custom-tailored to perfectly complement her entire body. Even her boots were flawless matches in color and design. Her looks were elegant yet eerie unnerving.

She moved on from the lady adorned in bright attire and focused her eyes on the being wearing dark clothing. He appeared to be male and just a few inches taller than the woman. He had no hair and his skin tone was an uncanny grey. Red markings rested on the top of his head and on his face. Two red lines rested on top of his head, coming to points above his brows. Two other markings ran under his unnatural, red eyes and down the sides of his cheeks, as it he had been crying and his tears were comprised of blood. His clothing was all black with dark red accents, comprised of a short tunic with sleeves and thick pants. However, his boots were designed for an animal, being formed into split hooves.  His overall stance screamed at Rey that he was someone who could easily win any fight he would start. Nobody with any sense of survival instincts would dare instigate a duel with the being.

Rey stood in place but kept her sight on them as they did on her. The idea of taking her eyes off them, even for just a moment, could result in them doing anything to her whether it was harmless or malicious. That was a risk she did not want to take.

“You and I both know that she is unique.” The man said.

“Indeed, she is.” The woman replied.

A shiver ran down Rey’s spine. When the both of them spoke, their voices sounded like many different voices speaking in unison and it reverberated all around her. The air was filled with their words and the ground slightly shook with their speech. They were humanoid in looks but **definitely** were not human.

_They have to be talking about me. They’re looking right at me._

The man and woman walked towards Rey. She wanted to turn and run but found herself frozen. Fear was overriding her flight and fight responses. However, Rey soon realized that their gazes hadn’t been on her at all. Both beings walked past on either side of her, stopping just a few feet behind Rey. She spun around to see both of their backsides. Their attention had never been on her.

 _Maybe they can’t see me at all? Or maybe they just don’t care, enough?_ Rey looked between them to see what they were focused on. Off towards the horizon was the silhouette of another humanoid form. If it was another being like the two in front of Rey, that remained to be seen. She couldn’t make out any distinguishable features. They were too far away.

“You know.” The man spoke once more. “We could use her to reenter the galaxy safely.”

The lady looked over at him. “No.”

“No?” His tone was that of confusion. “Sister, didn’t you wish to walk on a planet’s surface? Wasn’t it you who wanted the wind of an world to move across your skin? To smell the vivid flowers of lively worlds? To witness the liveliness of planets teeming with many walks of life?”

“Of course. I have wanted to experience those for epochs. You know that.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

The lady returned her gaze towards the figure in the distance. “What’s stopping me is her. To force myself on to her could permanently scar her. I won’t do it just to fulfill a wish of mine.” She paused a moment before returning the question. “What is keeping **you** from using her?”

He sighed, knowing he couldn’t avoid answering her. After all, he felt like he owed her. “What’s keeping me from the many worlds is what father told me. If I were to leave on my own, I wouldn’t be able to hold back. Your presence is enough to keep from committing destructive acts. I must stay with you always. As much as I love chaos, too much would make all things cease. In turn, we would cease.”

The Sister chuckled at his answer, which he immediately questioned. “What do you find funny about my answer?”

“Nothing, Brother. It is your attitude that shocked me. Your reasoning was very insightful and responsible. It seems your maturity has finally come to you.”

“Just slightly.” He teased. “Remember, I’m still the younger one. I have the honor of being a bit reckless from time to time.”

“Not as long as I’m around.” She denied his claim out of love for her sibling but her smile towards him faded into a frown. “Although, your brashness may be useful very soon. I fear something catastrophic is going to commence. If it appears that way, then and only then will I be willing to force myself onto her…if you will do so as well.”

“Agreed.” He answered solemnly.

* * *

In an instance, everything Rey was witnessing was gone in a blink. The two otherworldly beings and the silhouette far off in the distance had disappeared. Rey was now staring off towards the horizon where the vast waters touched the wispy orange clouds and light blue-purple sky. It took her breath away and for a moment she forgot the dream she had experienced. However, as the sun peaked out from the horizon, Rey remembered the dream once more. She replayed it over and over, trying to decipher it piece by piece. Her logical thoughts told her it was just a vivid dream and didn’t mean anything. Her instincts were telling her the opposite of logic. That the dream was going to happen and that she should prepare for it…or stop it from happening.

It was while Rey was lost in thought that Chewbacca returned to the firepit carrying a large bundle of sticks and logs to use later. He noticed that Rey was finally awake. She hadn’t even looked his way, even though she should have heard him approaching. It was unlike her. As he dropped the fuel for the firepit, he studied her face and deduced that she was thinking on something of great importance. She had been serious for most of her stay on this world and it was beginning to influence Rey, which in turn made the Wookie’s protective side take over his actions on this morning. He wanted to keep her safe from both physical and mental harm. After serving alongside Han for years, he had realized that the mind needed a break just like the body did. And, he believed to have a thing that could give her something else to focus her mind on.  

**_“Rrrraaahh?”_ **

No response from Rey. He walked over to her and gently reached down and placed his furry hand on the top of her head. It was enough to pull her out of her thoughts and look up at the Wookie.

“Oh. Hey Chewy.” She slowly got up from her seat and stretched most of the fatigue out of her body. “How are you doing this morning?”

**_“Mmmrrr.”_ **

“That’s good.”

**_“Gggrrraaa-aarrr?”_ **

“No. I won’t be busy until Luke wakes up and says what we’re doing today. Why do you ask?”

 ** _“Gggrrrnnn.”_** Chewbacca walked from her, just telling her to follow him.

Rey decided not to question why to follow and just did it. She walked by the Wookie’s side in silence. With every step, the two of them were getting closer to sea-level. The breeze carried with it the saltiness of the ocean’s waters. Rey hadn’t been close to the ocean yet. It looked like today she would get to experience something new.

As they reached the line where the grass met the sand, Rey’s breath was taken away. Just like on Takodana, her vision took in another new beautiful scenery that was a reality in the galaxy. The crystalline blue waters of the ocean looked frozen in time out near the horizon. Closer to the island though, the ocean weas livelier as it formed rolling waves towards the white sandy beach that she stood on. She hoped that Luke would sleep in extra late today.

**_“Nnnnnrrrraaa.”_ **

Rey was confused. _“Come out? What does he mean? I’m right here.”_ She looked where Chewy was looking, which was towards an area of waist-high grass. Her eyes picked up on the movement in the grass that was not the wind’s doing. Its action wasn’t smooth and gentle as if the breeze was acting on it. Some grass was being forced aside as several tiny creatures started appearing out of the foliage.

The tiny creatures sported dark brown to grey feathers, while having a white circle on their bellies and another white circle that was on their faces. Once they were no longer near the grass, they stretched out their tiny wings to lift themselves off the ground and flew towards Rey and Chewbacca. Most of them stuck to landing at their feet except three, one landed on Chewbacca’s head and two landed on Rey’s shoulders.

Rey focused on not moving too sudden. She didn’t want to startle any of the ones that had chosen to land on her. Then again, she thought that since they were very eager to fly to her that they wouldn’t mind if she slowly moved to sit down on the edge of the grass. With just a bit of focus and Force energy, Rey let her knees bend; and, carefully, she lowered herself onto the grass in one fluid motion. The small birds didn’t make the slightest attempt in flying off her. The others that were already on the ground waddled over to her as they shouted tiny chirps of excitement.         

 _This is amazing._ Rey loved the sound of the waves hitting the beach coupled with the tweets from the tiny birds. She was grateful for this and hoped it would last for a little while. It was a welcomed change of pace since she had arrived here. A wonderful, new experience that she could engage in while she was on this world.

* * *

 

The sun continued its ascent into the mostly clear sky. It was nearly above Rey and Chewbacca before the two of them heard approaching footsteps from behind. He walked out from behind them so that both the “birdwatchers” could see him.

“I see you two have made some new friends.” Luke sat down in the sand, facing the two of them.

“Yes. Although, I have to thank Chewy for this. He led me to them.” She turned to the Wookie. “Thanks. I needed this.”

Chewbacca accepted her thanks with a low growl and a nod.

A few of the birds flew over to Luke, landed either near him or on his crossed legs. Just like Rey, he also welcomed their company. He had already done so many times before the others had arrived on the world. The small, innocent creatures would ease his self-destructive, depressive thoughts time and time again. They were even helping ease his mind at that moment. It would allow him to talk to Rey without her seeing him with a negative look. Rey needed absolute confidence and positivity from him.

“Sorry about making you wait, Rey. I didn’t sleep too well last night.”

Rey shrugged. “It’s alright. I didn’t sleep well either.”

“Bad dream?” He asked.

“Yeah. You too?”

“Yeah.”

A bit of silence lingered between them until Luke broke it. “You want to talk about it?”

She wasn’t certain if she wanted to. Her dream was a bit pointless, at least to her. Even though the situation within it was a bit weird and eerily unnerving, it was just that. A dream. It wasn’t exactly the scariest one she had.

“No, it’s not that important. Just unusual.” Rey gently stroked the top of one of the birds sitting near her. “How about you? Want to talk about your dream?”

“Nah.” Luke sighed. “While it had an impact on me, it would just bore you.”

“Fair enough.” Rey dropped the conversation and started on another subject. “So, what are we going to go over today? More Force training? Lightsaber combat?”

“Actually,” he shot her a quick smile, “I was thinking that today would be a great day to just relax. Unless, you want to keep on training?”

“A break…” Rey returned his smile. “I think that sounds wonderful.”

And with that, they both sat on the beach in silence. The only noises around them were the breeze, the ocean waves striking the beach and the birds chirping all around. Both Luke and Rey were left to think about their dreams on their own.

Rey’s dream, that dealt with those two otherworldly beings and that humanoid silhouette in the distance, was an illusion to the near future. But she didn’t know that. All she knew was that she wasn’t even witnessed by any of them, as if she was a silent observer. That didn’t mean she would act upon it if the situation ever presented itself into her reality.  

Luke’s dream was of the past, in that he was with Han and Leia and they looked the same as he last saw them, which was many years ago. They both looked happy to see him and moved in to give him a group hug. That embrace felt so real that it lingered around him for a few moments as he woke up from the dream. That feeling was enough to keep him up for several hours, repeating the dream in his mind over and over. He wanted to experience that loving embrace again but couldn’t make the dream come into his mind once he fell asleep and dreamt nothing.

Both of them eventually let their dreams slip from their minds and enjoy their day off from training. They both figured that they earned it.  


	16. Mission to Fate; Confliction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY DIGGITY DAMN! DID YOU ALL SEE THAT TRAILER?!?!? AAAAHHHHHHHHH!
> 
> Anyway, a bit of a short but necessary chapter. Reviews and the trailer have allowed for another boost in confidence and inspiration so that I was able to keep on writing! :D
> 
> More reviews and positive insight would be very welcomed!

_He who seeks to control fate shall never find peace." -Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Ghosts of Mortis~_

* * *

 

 The Knights of Ren sat in their ship, waiting for it to drop out of hyperspace at Yavin 4. While all of them were silent verbally, their minds weren’t. They didn’t know it but all of them were contemplating on the same idea. Their mission. The seriousness of their assignment was started to weigh down on them. Some more than others.

Sudeac could feel the tension in the air and decided to break it. He spun his pilot’s seat around to face the team. “Why are we so concerned about this?”

“Pfff.” Kalam scoffed. “I’m not. This mission is the same as a lot of the other assassination jobs we’ve had recently. My concern isn’t on completing the job. It’s the fact that we can only kill **one** person, who is the target. No more, no less.”

Naver entered into the discussion. “While I may not be a bloodthirsty as Kalam, I do agree that this mission is going to be rather quick and…dull. Go in, isolate the target, kill them, leave without getting spotted. I would rather have a bit of excitement while doing this.”

“Consider this.” Songar interjected. “Snoke said we had to kill the target. However, he did not mention how he wanted it done. So, once we find them, we can kill them as slowly and as painfully as we please.” His smile was that of malice. His teammates couldn’t care less though. Except Ayimul.

“Gentlemen.” Her voice drew their eyes to her, informing her that they were ready to listen. “Songar makes a valid point. With our unique weapons and gear, we can easily subdue our target and give them an agonizing death. Although, we need be cautious. The fact that the Supreme Leader sent us without Kylo will leave us at the disadvantage of not having a Force-user on our side.”

Songar threw her a disgusted look. “So?! We all have taken down Jedi together. I’m not one to say this but they were even skilled and posed a challenge for us. Yet, they are dead. We had the brutality and merciless resolve that they did not. They were many but they are no more. We can kill this target with ease. Snoke is just making this target seem like a big deal.”

“No. He is not.”

Every single Knight moved their attention to the back of the ship. Sulihin’s voice was a rarity to be heard. When he spoke, no matter who was talking, they instantly stopped whatever it was they were doing and listened. While he tended to stay quiet, each word he uttered was cherished and regarded highly by the team. He only spoke when he felt the need to.

“Snoke told us the target is the Halva, a Force-sensitive that has an intense connection to both the Light and the Dark Sides of the Force. In my studies of ancient texts, I have come across the Halva in prophecies from several sources, spanning many cultures. While there are several differences among them, there are always two constants. The Halva doesn’t know they have legendary power, and the Halva cannot use that power until the Force itself wills it. Logically, the odds should be in our favor if the Force allows it. That doesn’t mean we should take this mission to pleasure ourselves with. We should go in and complete it as quick as we can.”

Sulihin hoped that his opinion would result in a positive response from all of his teammates. This mission thought would require them to work as one, in both body and mind. However, some disagreed. Not uncommon. Sulihin knew it was a long shot to get them to work in unison again. The last time they had done so was when they massacred all of the Jedi under Luke Skywalker. Sure, there were a few of them that made the team second-guess their confidence and ability to kill them, but they did just that. They worked together and killed every last one of them.

And that is when Sulihin remembered a crucial detail that was missing from their team this time around.

_Kylo. We are missing Kylo for this. He was with us and, together, we were able to take out Skywalker’s Jedi Order. Having Kylo’s Force abilities swayed the odds in our favor. That is a certainty. Without him with us, our target could very well destroy us if we don’t work fully together as one. They looked conflicted with what I just said. My opinion about how this assignment could go either way has split them up even more. I may have doomed us all._

Sulihin stepped back on his thoughts and reevaluated everything with a single question. _“What if this is what the Force wants?” Maybe the Force finds all of us hindering what it wants. I’ve been from side of the galaxy to the other. Seen a lot of strange things to know that the Force is real and is influencing everything in the universe. I may not be able to use or feel it but I can see how it has acted in the galaxy and even used by ones like Kylo Ren, Snoke and the Jedi we’ve slaughtered. If this is what the Force wills, and I believe that it is, who am I to fight against it? I’ll give this mission my all and accept the outcome, no matter what it will be._

And with his thoughts resolved, Sulihin fell into silence once more.

Songar had grown bitter after hearing Sulihin disagree with him. _I can’t believe him. He is overthinking this just like Snoke is. It’s just one Force user! We’ve taken on several at a time, trained by the Legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker!_ _This target will be easy to find and take out. That doesn’t mean that I can’t have a little bit of fun with this “Halva” before I bring down my claymore upon their head._

Kalam was just a bit more concerned than bitter. The fact they could kill only the target was different than any other job they had been given from Snoke. Other missions he would allow for other casualties, if they were deemed a necessary kill for Snoke’s cause. This time, the Supreme Leader made it clear that he wanted this mission to be as covert as possible. The only kill would be the target, the Halva. Nobody else was to be killed or witness the act of assassination. This could make their task much harder to accomplish.

 _Why the change in how we do this? It doesn’t make sense. Snoke made all other missions simple. Go in, kill the target and any witness or hinderance to the mission. Why the sudden change in pace?_ A brief shift in his thinking made his entire line of thinking change around. _What if Snoke did this to purposefully make it more difficult? A test, per say. To see just how skilled and worthy we are. That could explain why Kylo is not with us for this mission. I don’t know about the others, but I will finish this mission successfully. I’ll prove myself once more for the Supreme Leader. I **will** do this. And I will savor every cut I carve into this “Halva’s” body while I do so. _

Naver let out a deep sigh as he pondered over the mission to be. The Knight was mentally prepping for a ‘below average” assassination.

_This is going to be so dull. One target **and** no witnesses at all?! We have to wait until the Halva is alone to kill them?! This is a job for a high-class sniper rifle. Not us and most certainly not me. This will be over so quickly. The others are split on either killing the Halva quickly or torturing them before delivering the final blow. Personally, I wouldn’t mind thrusting my cutlasses into the Halva’s guts and slowly twisting the blades. It would certainty make this mission somewhat memorable and worth every minute of dull time we will definitely have from it._

Ayimul gazed at her comrades. Since none of them were wearing their masks yet, it was easily for her to read their thoughts just by studying their faces. Sulihin looked collected. Kalam and Naver both seemed to be annoyed and lacked any sign of eagerness about the mission, which was an odd sight to her. Songar wore a “pissed off” expression on him, which knowing his personality, was believable and understandable. Sudeac was the only one she couldn’t read. He was always the one who could hide his emotions from everyone. If he were to have a night of gambling on Cato Neimoidia, not a single player could read his hand by gazing at his face.

 _Always the one to hide your true feelings, Sudeac. I wish I could have that talent. I bet the others wish they could have it too. They’re like an open book now. This mission has divided us and we haven’t even engaged the Halva yet._ She came to a thought that decided her fate. _No matter what happens on this mission, I will survive through my own strength. I will complete the mission if the others fall. This Halva may be strong, but my willpower is stronger. They will be crushed, by my own lightwhips and brute force. This mission will be a success and I will keep my place within the Knights of Ren. I won’t fail the Supreme Leader._

Sudeac had stared at his teammates long enough. He spun the pilot’s seat back to the controls and saw that the ship would exit hyperspace in less than a minute. The weight of his position was starting to affect him now more than it had hours ago.

_It feels unreal. Like a dream. I’m leading the Knights of Ren. Still, I have to take charge. The Supreme Leader gave me this position, so I will give it my all. The team, though. They aren’t getting along at the moment. I’m not a great speaker like Sulihin. I don’t have power to rally behind like Kylo. I’m going to have to rely on them to come together on the field. I hope they can. I hope we make it through this assignment together. I hope my leadership won’t let any of them down._

A thought-piercing beep brought Sudeac’s attention to the control board. The ship was five seconds from exiting hyperspace automatically. “Knights of Ren.” He spoke loudly to overcome the noise of the ship. He didn’t turn around though. He kept his sight and mind forward. “Welcome to Yavin 4.”

The ship exited hyperspace. The world of Yavin 4, a moon that was green with specs of blue, was orbiting the lower half of Yavin. That was where Sudeac began to maneuver his ship towards. He steered in its direction, slowing down the ship’s speed and activating the small ship’s cloaking device. Normally, a ship as small as the Knight’s ship wouldn’t have a cloaking device. This ship however was equipped with a personalized one that worked perfectly to cloak both the ship and its occupants from any form of scanners. It was perfect for their types of missions that Snoke would task them with. Now, all they had to do was land and find the Halva.

* * *

Kylo Ren had placed his ship into hyperspace just a few minutes behind the Knights of Ren’s ship. Once the tracker on the Knights’ ship slowed down immensely, Kylo took his ship out of hyperspace and immediately pulled back on the controls to get his ship to stop completely. The ship remained motionless in space as Kylo looked out to see the Yavin system. He took off his mask and lowered his gaze towards the helmet in his hands.  He then looked back out the ship and towards one of the small moons that was near Yavin. It was as if he was being both drawn in and rejected by it.

“What…” His voice trailed off inside the cockpit.

He felt something pulling him towards where the Knights of Ren were heading. He knew the feeling very well. The connection he felt was from his past. It was his mother. He could feel her but couldn’t sense her trying to connect with him through the Force. For some reason, only felt the connection. He was relived about that.

“She’s down there somewhere and that is where the Knights are heading.” He felt the conflict becoming stronger within him. Who he could trust was thinning out as he began to question the situation he had thrown himself into.

 _What if they are on an assassination assignment? Are they going down there to kill my-  General Leia?_ He only reflected on this a moment before disagreeing with himself.

_No. The Supreme Leader wouldn’t send the Knights of Ren to kill the General on their own. He would have sent the First Order here as well. It would give the Knights sufficient cover to infiltrate the Resistance and…complete their mission. No. It must be someone else. But who would be significant enough, that isn’t with the Resistance, that Snoke would give the Knights this mission and keep me from it?_

Kylo’s mind was torn. Should he follow the Knights and find out what their mission was? Or, should he stay far back and wait for their ship to leave Yavin 4 and follow them back to Kamino. Should he risk his mother sensing him through the Force, having her try to sway him back to her? Or, should he just leave the Knights and head back to Kamino to wait for their inevitable return?

He looked back down at his mask for only a moment before he placed it on the floor of the ship. He would wait around for half a day, then head back to Kamino if the Knights didn’t leave before then. Besides, that would give him some time to think in true solitude.  

Kylo gazed at the bodily worlds in the distance, his mind beginning to reflect over the recent events. More specifically: the death of Han Solo. Snoke had told him that Solo’s death, brought about by his hands, would get him one step closer to fulfilling his destiny. It would envelop him in power and the conflict between the Light and Dark would cease.

 _Snoke was wrong. I don’t feel at peace at all. I feel like I’m being torn now more than I had been before...before I…_ He skipped over saying it mentally. _He was wrong about that and he kept the Knights’ mission hidden from me on purpose. What is this plan? Why doesn’t it include me?_

The Master of the Knights pondered on the questions. He went through any possibilities he could conjure up. He had half a day to go through his many questions alone, with only the distant planets, moons and far off twinkling of worlds and stars to gaze upon.   


	17. Breaking the Wall of Loneliness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I got out another chapter so fast! This chapter I'm super proud of so pretty please leave some feedback so I know if any of my fellow readers are enjoying this too! The last bunch of feedback sped up my progress!
> 
> Now onto, what I like to call, "shipping before all hell breaks loose" chapter.

 "Friendship shows us who we really are." - Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~A Friend in Need~

* * *

 

To say that Angela was bored while riding in the back of Poe's speeder would be far from the truth. She kept to herself as she watched the vast jungle move by her on her left and right. She had never seen so much plant life in person before. Angela had only witnessed this type of greenery in books and holographic images, even though the holograms were only in shades of blue. Her eyes took a quick look up front at Poe and Finn. They seemed to be talking about something but Angela didn't tune her hearing to it. Instead, she took in the sounds of the wind lightly flowing through her shoulder-length blonde hair as her gaze returned to the beautiful scenery around her. It was nice to not think on anything and just take in every bit of wonder that the galaxy had to offer.

Finn and Poe talked to each other as Poe navigated his speeder on the many dirt paths in the jungle. It was more that Finn had started a conversation. Poe didn't mind. In fact, it would take his mind off the issue that he would bring up to Angela all too soon.

"Where exactly are you taking us?" Finn asked.

Poe made a slight left turn onto another dirt road. "There's this lake that's in a valley nearby. I don't think anyone from the Resistance knows about it. I thought it would be a nice place to have some food and just relax for a bit."

"And also-" Finn took a quick glance in the passenger's side mirror to see Angela gazing at the scenery. Finn made sure to keep his voice low enough for Angela to not hear him. "Discuss that thing you're keeping from Angela."

"Yeah." Poe sighed.

Finn took a quick glance in the sidemirror again to make sure that Angela wasn't paying attention, which it seemed she wasn't. "Just between you and me, what's wrong?"

Poe lowered his voice as well. He wasn't ready to let Angela know. He wanted to say it just right, with the right tone. "It's her ship. To keep it short, the repair time is going to be way longer than expected. She won't leave without her ship. She's made that very clear. So, she's going to be here for a while."

"You mean she won't take another ship?"

"No. I know she won't. She loves that Starfighter. I've seen how she's made enhancements and…it's a fine machine." Poe reflected in memory of how she had enhanced the combat and operation systems. He was still awestruck with how much work she had put into such an old fighter. He understood wholeheartedly why she wanted to keep it for a long time. It held hard work and memories of hers in it. It was like how he cherished BB-8 and all the memories he had with the droid. He wouldn't trade BB for another droid; and Angela wouldn't trade her Starfighter for another ship.

Finn nodded softly. "I can understand that. There's something I still don't get though."

"What's that?"

"Why are you delaying the inevitable? You're going to tell her the bad news at the picnic but why not just tell her now or even back at your place?"

Poe didn't answer immediately. "Because…" His voice was nearly a whisper. "I wasn't ready. I have to figure out the right way to tell her. I hate the fact that I have to anyways. I don't want her to be disappointed."

Finn shook his head at Dameron. "Poe, it's not your fault that her ship can't get repaired quickly. I'm sure she'll understand, no matter how you word it to her."

Poe didn't have a response to that. Finn's theory was a sound one. Angela didn't lash out at the maintenance crew when they informed her of the missing power cell. In fact, she gave them the schematics so they could build one that works for her coolant system. At the most, she was a bit disappointed that she would have to stay longer than intended. But now, the delay would be extended even more.

_I really don't want to let her down. She's already done so much for me. Saved my life from the First Order and brought me back to the Resistance. I should be able to do better than just giving her a room at my place. Hopefully Finn is right and she won't be disappointed or mad. I would hate having her feel bad about this._

Dameron approached the final turn in the trip and took a sharp right with ease. The path began to decline as he brought the land speeder down to an idle, letting it move down the hill by gravity. Once the jungle began to open in front of them, Poe brought the speeder to a gentle stop just on the edge of the jungle.

"We're here." Poe announced.

This brought Angela out of her trance. Her eyes widened at the spectacular sight before her. She nearly flew out of the back of the speeder, backpack slung over her shoulders, and ran to where the land met the water. The crystalline-clear lake was about half a klick in diameter. It was surrounded in cliffs that transformed into tall mountain peaks in the distance. No illustration in a book or hologram compared. It left her awestruck.

"Whoa." Finn eased himself out of the speeder successfully without Poe's help. "You said nobody has found this place yet?"

"As far as I'm aware." Poe grabbed the metal box out of the back of the speeder and moved around the front of it to walk beside Finn. "I've kept it a secret ever since my mother and father first took me here. It was our own thing we did together."

"And you're sharing it with me and Angela." Finn replied.

"Yeah. I figured keeping this beautiful sight all to myself was wrong. So, I decided to share it with both of you."

Finn shot him a grateful smile. "Thanks, Poe. I appreciate this. Really. And I'm sure Angela does too." He nodded ahead, which diverted Poe's attention to the blonde as they walked up behind her.

She heard the two of them walk up from behind her. She turned around, beaming from the wonder around her. "This is beautiful!"

"It is." Poe agreed. "I figured this would be a nice place to just hang out for a while and enjoy a simple, late lunch."

Finn looked at Poe and Angela, who were both looking directly at one another. This was an opportunity that he couldn't let slip by. He grabbed the handle of the lunchbox and took the box from Poe. "I'll set up lunch under that huge tree over there." Both of them looked to where Finn was pointing. "Poe, you should tell Angela what you just told me until I get all of this ready. Maybe even take a small walk near the lake."

Poe shook his head. "Finn, I can set up the stuff. You and Angela can explore around the-"

Finn had to be quick or else his plan would backfire. "This lunchbox is heavier than I thought." He held it with both hands, acting like it was stuffed full of heavy items when, in reality, it was light. "Oh yeah, this might take me a bit longer than I thought." He started to casually leave them, heading towards the tree. "Yep. You two could easily take a small walk near the lake and make it back just as I finish."

"But Finn, I-"

Poe was suddenly cut off as Finn began to whistle an "innocent", carefree tune loud enough to conveniently silence the pilot. It was then that he realized what Finn was doing. "That sneaky, son of a-" He stopped his low mumbling just short of the vulgarity.

"Huh." Angela scratched the back of her head.

"Huh? What's 'huh'?" Poe asked.

"Well, earlier, you were acting a bit weird. Your cheeks were red even though you said you weren't sick or anything. And now, Finn is acting a bit different than before. Like he's trying to do something. I don't know." Angela gave up on figuring out how the two situations connected together. "Anyway, shall we take that walk together?"

Poe gave in. No sense in trying to back out of the situation his friend purposefully threw him into in the first place. "Yeah, come on. I'll tell you what I told Finn about this place as we walk."

Finn was soon near the tree he had chosen to set up under. He opened up the lunchbox and began pulling out the supplies, piece by piece. Every other item he removed from the box, he would look up to see that Poe and Angela were continuing their walk near the lake.

"I hope it goes well for them."

The more he continued to work at setting up the picnic, the more his mind began to wonder from Poe and Angela. In fact, it began to remind Finn of someone who he liked differently from anyone else. He could easily imagine her as if she was sitting right next to him. Her pulled-back, brown hair would have several strands that were loose and gentling swaying in the breeze. She would be gazing at him with her soft hazel eyes and smiling at him out of pure enjoyment of being here at this lovely, quiet place.

If she was here.

Finn looked down at his right hand. Even though it was holding a small container of food, it felt empty. "If she comes back-" He shook his head and corrected himself. " **When**  she comes back, I'll ask her if I can hold her hand again." The wait could be a long time. Finn knew this. But, if she would let him hold her hand again, the wait would be worth more to him than all the precious crystals that made up the world of Christophsis.

"When I was younger, my mother and father would bring me out to this lake. It was always special, no matter how many times we came here." Poe retold his memory to Angela.

"You're speaking as though they aren't around anymore." As soon as she said this, Poe looked over at her. That's when she noticed his brown eyes began to waver and a forced smile was given to her. She immediately regretted what she had said. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought that-"

"No, no. It's fine. I mean, it still hurts but it's something I can bare now. Besides, there are the memories I still have of them. They're so vivid that it's like they are still around in their own unique way. You know?"

"No. No, I don't." Angela knew that Poe was being rhetorical in his question. Yet, she still opened up a bit. She oddly wanted to. "I, um, never really knew my parents."

"Oh. Wait," Poe realized. "You mean that you were living by yourself on Tatooine since you were a kid?"

She couldn't help but laugh at the thought of her doing that. "No. I mean, kinda." She reeled back before letting too much information slip. The more information he knew, the more likely that he and others would find out who she really was and what she could really do. She recollected herself as she explained. "Ever since I could remember, I had a caregiver watch over me until I was fourteen. After that, I was on my own."

"Fourteen?" Poe let out an aggravated sigh. "That's just wrong. It's still a bit young to be on your own, especially on that world."

Angela shrugged. "Well, something happened and my caregiver couldn't…well, care for me anymore. It was sudden and I just found myself alone since then. I had no other family or even friends that I could go to. I just wandered around for some time until I found that abandoned homestead."

"May I ask you something? It's kind of personal."

"You can ask but I might not give you an answer."

Poe agreed with the conditions. "That's fair."

"What is it you want to ask?"

"Alright. Why are you so eager to go back? You said it yourself. You have no family or friends there."

They both stopped walking along the lake. By this point they had moved several hundred yards from both Finn and the speeder. The only sounds around them were the gentle breeze, the rustling of the jungle flora, and their words between each other.

"To be honest, Dameron, I don't know. I may just skip Tatooine and hyperjump to a different quadrant, just to get far away from that damned planet."

Poe noted that she was now avoiding looking at him. A sign that she could be hiding some detail from him. He didn't pry into it though. He respected her privacy. This didn't stop him from asking another question though. "Why even leave?"

That brought her gaze back on him. "What do you mean by that?"

"What I'm mean is that you don't have anybody out there in the galaxy. But you have Finn and myself. The only catch is that we can't exactly go anywhere we want to at the moment. With both of us being with the Resistance, the First Order will be keeping a sharp eye out for the two of us. In fact, if word got back to the First Order, you'll be near the top of their most wanted list too."

"You have a point. Safety in numbers." Angela commented. "But is there another reason you are trying to convince me to stay or are you just trying to avoid something else entirely?"

Poe felt as though his heartrate suddenly spiked.  _Does she know that I'm trying to avoid talking about the issue with her fighter?_

"All of this talk about staying makes me think you don't want to talk about my Starfighter."

Dameron's eyes widened from shock.  _How the…how did she know that?! I can't be that bad of a liar, can I?"_

A small laugh slipped from Angela's lips. "You're not a bad liar, Poe. You're just nervous about this whole issue, when there's no reason for you to be."

"Poe." His face lit up like a little kid's when they received an unexpected gift. "You called me Poe."

It took Angela a moment to realize that she had. She should have been upset with herself about it. She had told herself not to call anyone by their first name ever since she had been on her own. But she wasn't. Finn was right in that it was a lot shorter to say than Dameron. That, and it felt right to hear herself say it. "Yeah, I guess I finally did, huh?" She accepted it and then changed the subject back to the precious one.

"Back to my Starfighter."

"Yeah…about that." He was anxious about breaking the bad news. So many things could go wrong from this.

Angela could tell it was bothering him. "Listen Poe. Whatever is wrong with my Starfighter now, it's not your fault. There's no reason for you to be so nervous about telling me anything. I won't get mad. You have my word."

"Okay." He felt much better about telling her. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly to recollect himself before breaking the news. "So, you know how the you gave the maintenance crew the schematics for the power cell that went missing?"

She nodded.

"Well, when they were working on building it, the schematics went missing from one of their workbenches. They've been searching for it since late last night."

As soon as he said those dreadful words, Angela's composure changed. She crossed her arms and looked down towards the ground. He couldn't read her face to figure out what she was thinking. He immediately regretted telling her and was about to go into a full out apology spiel for something that he had no reason to be sorry for.

"Don't even start, Poe." Angela forced herself to look at him, to reassure him. "You have nothing to apologize for. Like I just said, it's not your fault. It's not like you took the power cell or lost the blueprints for it."

"You mean you aren't mad at me?"

"Hey, I gave you my word I wouldn't be." She kept on assuring him that he was without fault. "I'm not mad about this. I am disappointed though. Not in you. Just in how things turned out today with it."

"I'm still sorry though. You've been delayed twice now because someone is stealing your things. Don't worry though. I'll see to it myself that the schematic is found and will oversee the repairs until completion." Poe was determined to not let anything else hinder her in any way.

His words were making Angela backpedal mentally. "That's unreasonable. After all, it's my Starfighter. It's my issue. I can rebuild the power cell. It'll just take me longer to do it from memory. Besides, you can't really oversee the repairs at all times. What if the Resistance needs you to fly out? You can't be in two places at once."

Poe knew she was right. That didn't mean he had to like it. "That's not fair to you."

She shrugged. "Life's never really been fair to me." Angela saw Poe frown in disapproval, which weakened her resolve. "Alright. How about this? We both work my Starfighter together. That way, I can help you with rebuilding the power cell and if you need to go on some mission off world, I can do it by myself until you get back." She offered him her hand to shake. "Deal?"

His friendly, attractive smile returned as he took her hand. "Deal."

They both felt it as they held hands to agree to the terms. It was new to the both of them. A strange sensation of comfort and completion mixed with a bit of yearning flowed between them with just a handshake. It was soon over as they both took their hands back.

 _What was that?_ Angela thought silently.  _It was weird but…I liked it._

Poe was thinking about the feeling too.  _That. What was that? I haven't felt anything like that before from anyone else. It was nice._

"We, uh, should head on back." Angela broke the brief silence between them. "Finn should have everything set up by now."

"Y-Yeah." Poe agreed. "Let's head on back."

Both of them started the trek back, the awkward silence rushing back in between the two. There was a battle ensuing in both of their minds. The same battle. So far, it could go one way or the other for both. With each step they took beside each other, the battles were drawing quickly to a victory or defeat. Who would get what result first?

Poe wanted to hold her hand on the way back to Finn. However, his overall consideration for others was holding him back from doing so. He had already pushed his luck with telling Angela about the missing blueprints. She had been very understanding about the whole ordeal. She had put up with taking him back to the Resistance base with her fighter and she had helped him escape the First Order. Asking her if they could hold hands again seemed like he would be pushing a fine line of Angela's patience and understanding with everything that he had experienced with her.

That line was shattered as he felt Angela's right hand gently slip into his empty left.

Angela could feel her face getting warmer than normal. "I-uh-wanted to hold your hand again. Unless you don't want to! Just say no and-"

"No, no. It's fine." He felt that comforting sensation and he softly closed his hand around hers. "Actually. It's perfect."

"I'm glad we were thinking the same thing."

The awkward silence disappeared and was replaced with tranquility. The wildlife that was within the jungle made distance noises. A faint breeze moved the greenery of the dense jungle, the rustling of the plants mixing together with the tiny, rippling waters that struck against the shore of the lake. It seemed that, at least on Yavin 4, the galaxy was at peace. No war. No conflict. No disasters of man-made or natural proportions. Just serenity.

Unbeknownst to any of them, in several hours, two of them would have their whole realities altered and one would have to choose which path to set on. A path of solitude or a path of alliances. An average life of a traveler or the exhilarating life of a fighter.


	18. Unwanted Destiny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally have no good excuse for this chapter being delayed. So...here you goooooo. Also I just love all the reviews and PMs I have received :D Keep it up! Prepare for the next chapter to have darker times. Whoooooo!
> 
> ~TheJediAvenger~

_"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." -Jean de La Fontaine_

* * *

  
The picnic that Poe, Finn and Angela enjoyed had come and gone sooner than they would have liked. The sun soon fell behind the tall mountains on the horizon. They all packed up and hopped back into the speeder. All of them reached Poe’s house in minutes and walked into the home with the leftover supplies from the trip. They were greeted by a fully-charged BB-8, welcoming them back with a series of cheerful tones.

“Hey, buddy.” Poe answered. “Did you get charged up?”

**_Brreee!_ **

“Good.” He nodded for Finn and Angela to walk into the kitchen with him, motioning them to set the supplies down on the table with the items he placed there.  

“Poe, I can honestly say that was the best food I’ve ever had in my life.” Finn, having been given mostly First Order meals that were standard for the troopers, enjoyed every bite of the simplistic picnic food.

Angela felt the same way. “That was really good. Thanks for making it.”  

“You’re welcome.” He shrugged though. “That was nothing. If I have time to focus, I can actually cook nicer meals.” Poe remembered when he was a kid and his mother was still around. She had been the one to teach him how to make great things from seemingly the most useless items. “I have my mother to thank for my cooking skills.”

All three of them worked together to put everything back where it belonged. Once it was done, each of them felt a bit tired.

“Man, I can’t believe that I’m yawning already.” Finn uttered exhaustedly.

“Your body is still recovering.” Poe pointed out. “Speaking of which, Finn, you can take my bed and-“

“Nonsense.” Angela interrupted. “Finn can take the room I was using, and you can stay in yours, Poe. I will take the couch.”

Poe was about to argue the choice but stopped himself. Angela was perfectly able to choose where she slept, so long as it didn’t bother her of course. “Are you sure? I really don’t mind the couch.”

“I’m sure.” She confirmed. “In fact, I’m going to lie down now. I’ll see all of you in the morning.”

The two men and the droid tell her good night as she disappeared into the living area. When they were certain Angela was out of hearing range, Finn decided to get some insight.

“So, did you two enjoy your walk together?” Finn teased.

“Speaking of that, you set me up without running it by me first.” Poe was a bit peeved that had happened. While he did enjoy the occasion surprise and challenge in a dogfight, he did not like it when it came to people on a personal level.

Finn shrugged. “I really didn’t have a chance to pull you to the side. Besides, I could tell you were having trouble getting closer to her.”

“You could tell?” Poe turned it around. “Finn, have you even asked Rey out on a date yet?”

“Wait, what does helping you with your relationship have anything to do with Rey?”

“You should practice what you preach. I have a hunch you two haven’t even held hands yet.”

Finn suddenly held his head high. “That’s where you’re wrong, oh knowledgeable Dameron. I’ll have you know that Rey and I held hands.”

“Really?” He threw Finn dubious stare.

“Yes. We’ve also shared a hug.” He proudly stated to Poe.

“Whoa.” Poe widened his eyes purposefully, as he knelt at Finn’s feet. “Teach me your sorcerer’s ways of love, oh legendary guru of matchmaking.”

Finn’s pride dwindled away. Poe mocking him had been an unexpected reaction. “Knock that off, man.”

Poe dropped the act and got up with a stupid grin on his face. “But seriously, how did you know that I was having trouble?”

“Back when I was with the First Order, I had very few friends. The ones that that were my friends I knew very well. They also knew me in that I kept to myself most of the time. They would come to me and tell their secrets. Several of them told me they would like a certain person but had trouble telling their crush that. Having kept to myself, I was more of an observer. I knew how each of them could tell the other they loved them by just simple things, like carrying their lunch trays or dropping the subtlest of hints regularly, even a few bad pickup lines here and there.”

“Did your advice work?”

Finn smiled. “All of them were successes.”

A calm silence fell briefly between them. Each of them were consolidating what they had just discussed. Finn reminisced about all those times he helped his past friends. Poe thought on how Finn’s meddling had helped him break the barrier that Angela had built. Before today, she kept her past hidden and remained emotionally distant. Today changed. The little walk they had together had broken her out of her shell. He knew a bit more about her past and they agreed on working together to repair her ship. It would give them even more time to know one another. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

“Before you head into your room, Finn, I got to get something.” Poe left Finn alone in the kitchen for a minute, soon returning with a folded blanket.

“Looks like I’ve taught you well.” Finn noticed the subtle eyeroll from Poe.

“Of course. I’ll see you in the morning, Finn.” He started off towards the living room, only pausing momentarily to look back at Finn. “And thanks for meddling.”

Finn chuckled. “You’re welcome and good night.” He walked into his room, closing the door gently behind him.

Poe walked into the living room with the blanket in his hands. The light was still on, making him believe Angela hadn’t actually fallen asleep yet. But, just as he was going to speak to her, he saw her already lying flat on the couch. Her head rested against one of the complimenting pillows, while her left arm lied on her stomach and her right was hanging off the edge of the couch. Her breathing was barely visible, and her light blue eyes were hidden away. From seeing that all her clothes were still on her, even her jacket, he knew that she had fallen asleep rather quickly. The only thing that she took off was her backpack, which she had set on the floor at the far end of the couch.   

Poe was both impressed and jealous. _How did she do that? I wish I could fall asleep that fast._ He thought about how he stepped as he crossed the room. He wasn’t about to wake her. He unfolded the blanket and carefully lowered it onto her sleeping form. Then, he gently moved her right arm up onto the couch and finished pulling the blanket up to her shoulders.

Success. He just as quietly left the room and went to his. As he did, he whispered down to his droid, as BB normally went into standby in the dining section of the kitchen. “If Angela or Finn need anything, buddy, come wake me up alright?”

BB softly chirped in understanding.

“Thanks. Goodnight, BB.”

**_Bbbbrreee-eeee._ **

* * *

One day of relaxation had passed for Rey and Luke. Their dreams had been pushed to the back of their minds, no longer the forefront of their thinking. A new day required a new lesson for Rey and she was eager to get started. They walked back to that stone circle in the woods, leaving Chewbacca and R2 to hang out near Luke’s residence.

“Are you ready for the next aspect of your training?” Luke asked.

Rey nodded. “Ready when you are.”

Luke motioned for her to sit down on the smoothed stone. She did so, and he followed as he explained the lesson they would focus on. “Today, we are going to practice meditation. It will help strengthen your connection to the Force, allowing for you to sense and even use it more often without tiring so easily. An example would be using your time manipulation longer and without losing most your physical strength in the process.”

“That will be amazing.” Rey was eager to learn this new skill. If she could pull out of the time freeze without getting dizzy, she would practice every single day. “Let’s get started already.”

“The first step in meditation is patience which, judging by your tone of voice, is something that you slightly lack.”

“Ugh. Fine.” She quickly shoved her eagerness aside and made herself look complacent, at least on the outside. “I am **patiently** waiting for your instructions.”

Luke rolled his eyes. He had remembered when he was that young and remembered several times trying to pull a fast one on his uncle and aunt. While his uncle was oblivious to him sneaking out, his aunt wasn’t. She always knew and allowed Luke to get any from the farm, even it was for a while. Time had reversed the roles. Now, he was on the receiving end of the little white lie and Rey was the one trying to pull the fast one. The only difference this time was that she was not trying to be as convincing as he had been in his youth. She was bold and unregretful in bending the meaning of his words.

“Alright. Since you have already mastered the art of patience in three seconds, then we will start with the first step: sitting cross-legged.” Both of them adjusted their legs to the right form. “Next is to rest your hands in your lap, palms open and skywards.” He and Rey did this before Luke said the final steps. “Now, keep your posture straight and shoulders back.” They both followed it to a T. “Close your eyes and breathe. Just breathe. Then, reach out and listen to the Force.”

 _Okay._ Rey shut her eyes to the beautiful world and focused on her breathing. _Slow, deep breath in._ Inhale. _Slow,_ _deep, slow breath out._ Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

After an unknown amount of time slipping by, Rey’s mind began to shift from focusing on her breathing to sensing the flow of energy around her. It seemed as if it was concentrated around her and Luke specifically, while less dense areas of energy lingered nearby. All of it seemed calming. It wasn’t moving erratically and didn’t seem to have any ill-will or intent of its own design. It was just drifting around her, without purpose at the moment. Everything felt right with her relationship with the Force. It gave her a different form of completion. She felt whole and her emotions were in check. She loved it!

However, the calmness of the energy was momentarily gone. It wasn’t even a millisecond long in its revelation, but Rey felt it. It was an instant burst of chaotic, provoking, malicious energy. The Dark Side.

_That energy. It wasn’t here like the Light is. It was far off. And yet I felt it so clearly here. It was Dark._

She brought herself out of meditating, opening her eyes to see Luke looking directly at her from where he sat.

“I felt it too.” He confirmed the sudden and brief shift of Force energy.

“Is it unusual for the Force to do that?” Rey wondered.

Luke stroked his facial hair as he thought over the shift once more. “It’s not unusual for the Force to fluctuate in power from one side to the other, especially in this lifetime. That shift though was here and gone like lightning and it was Dark Side in nature. That was odd. Very odd.”   

“Should we be worried?”

Luke shook his head. “I’m not. Had it stayed visible within the Force, then it would be of great concern. It was a sudden power shift that made the Dark Side immensely stronger. But it’s gone now, and the Force is back to where it was. It’s still off-balance but we’ll fix that part.”

A quizzable eyebrow was raised at Luke. Rey couldn’t believe what he had said.

“What?” He asked.

“You said ‘we’. I don’t think you’ve said that yet. It’s an improvement.”

Luke knew the implications. “Don’t get your hopes up now. There is more than one way to win a war. However, yes. I feel more sure of myself than I had been before you arrived. That doesn’t mean I’m ready to return to the galaxy. I need a bit more time.”

Rey understood completely. She was just glad she was making progress in bringing him back. “I understand.”

He shot her a smile. “Now that we gotten that said and out of the way for now, let’s continue meditation.”

* * *

 

Meanwhile, on Kamino…

Snoke felt the instant shift in the Dark Side’s power. In the blink of an eye, it was gone. As if it never had happened. He knew exactly what it was that had caused it and a malicious grin slowly manifested on his face.

_The Halva has started to awaken. Soon, the Knights will make their move and will put the prophesized being to the test. There is no doubt in my mind that she will destroy them all. Then, I will enact the second phase. We shall see who will be worthy to be my apprentice or maybe even apprentices. From there, the galaxy will soon be under my control._

He couldn’t begin to fathom the power that the Halva could possess. In fact, all the prophecies about the Halva were missing an essential fact about the being. Yet Snoke wanted that legendary power under his influence. To be able to command that power would mean the completion of his goal. A galactic order in which all worlds, all beings, all riches, all power was his alone to gain, subjugate and rule.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the space near the Yavin system…

Kylo Ren sensed an intense surge in the Dark Side pulsate from Yavin 4. One moment, Kylo felt as if all Light ceased to exist in the galaxy. However, it was gone just as quickly as it had showed.

“What in the hell was that?” His voice was a mere whisper to his ears. That event made everything he believed invalid and he hated it. He was the most in tuned and power-imbued with the Dark Side, second only to Supreme Leader Snoke. But now, he wasn’t sure.

_That was not a normal fluctuation in the balance of the Force. I’ve never felt that. Even that scavenger girl didn’t cause that much of a power shift when I fought her._

Facts were starting to make more sense in his mind as it started putting together information he knew.

_The Knights are down there. They were assigned a mission without me being informed and sent to lead them. Snoke could be testing them. If that’s the case, it would be with a target that can use the Force instead of a normal political target. What if there is another person that can use the Force? Someone who could cause such an intense yet brief power flux in the Dark Side?_

Kylo wanted to go down to Yavin 4. Find the cause of the disturbance himself. However, his past was down there, and he was not ready to face and destroy it. He would head back to Kamino, leaving the Knights to face their target alone. After all, it is what Snoke wanted. He would let the Supreme Leader have the satisfaction for this. It would come at a cost though. 

He left his mask on the floor of the ship as he prepared to head back to Kamino. His mind began to go through all the questions he would ask Snoke about anything he wanted to know.

He was through with being in the dark about a great many things. 

* * *

 

She was there again. Her past that was in shambles. Rubble in the sand. A Droid on the verge of total failure. Angela knew why she was here again.

“Proxy. I can’t. I won’t do it.”

The holodroid shook his mangled head. “Stubborn even now. Angela, you are one of the most proficient lightsaber wielders in the history of the galaxy. I trained you in both Jedi and Sith forms of combat. That, and you have a connection to the Force that is unlike any other.”

“Which is why I don’t want to use the Force.” Angela argued with the apparition.

“Your statement is invalid.”

Angela was growing more annoyed and bitter at the droid. She knew she was in another vivid dream of her own past, coming back to haunt her. Just when would it end? “How…is my statement invalid?!”

“Do you not remember when you used it to awaken Finn from his coma?” The droid pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. “So, what if I did? It’s not like anyone knows that I did it. All they know is that he woke up on his own.”

“While that may be true, it may have not gone unnoticed. Using the Force can be more than just seen. It can be felt by others as well.”

“Get to the point.”

Proxy pointed past her. She turned to see the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Snoke was nearly translucent, as if he was on a different plane of existence.

The droid spoke again. “He may have felt what you did, if he was seeking out your unique signature in the Force. And if you were using it to help Finn at the time…well, he could have sensed you and figured out your location.”

She scoffed at the idea. “You know the odds of that actually being the case are very, very…very low.”

“So, you state the improbability of it is high. However, improbable doesn’t mean impossible.”

Angela looked back at the droid. “There’s no way he knows I exist. If he did, he would have sent Kylo Ren or even the whole First Order to take me out by now.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want you dead. He might want you to become his apprentice. Someone of your skill in direct combat would be a very formidable opponent. He surely won’t want you against him.”

Angela finally had enough of her droid’s banter and this dream. She was going to state her mind and force herself awake from this.

“Listen to me very carefully, Proxy. Because I’m not going to repeat myself. Nobody knows about me or that I can use the Force. Snoke doesn’t know where I am or that I even exist. For the longest time, I was alone and kept from getting attached to others out of fear. Now, not only do I have two people who I consider friends, I may have stronger feelings for one of them and it’s something I have to see out, without them ever finding out my abilities. I’ve spoken my mind and I’m leaving.”

She walked past the droid, heading off towards the two setting suns on the horizon. So long as she didn’t have to look at the rubble of a dreamscape anymore, Angela would be fine. She would walk from it and begin working on waking herself up. She could bury the past indefinitely.

All of that was taken from her as soon as she felt an intense surge of electricity hit her back. The intensity of the energy made every muscle in her body tense up. If this continued on, it would ruin her chances of starting her life over. She attempted to bend the Force around her in an attempt to push the lightning out and from her body, which would allow her to move.

“You will have to use the Force eventually, Angela.” Proxy said in the most serious tone he could manage as a machine, as he continued hitting her with lightning. “Whether you want to or not. It is sealed.”

Angela lost herself for a moment. She just wanted the pain and the nightmare to end. She allowed herself to bend the Light and channeled in more Dark Side energy. Once the energy was around her, she pushed it all out from her with an intense scream.

* * *

She nearly threw herself off the couch from quickly sitting up. For several minutes, all she could do was breathe heavily and stare off into the darkness Poe’s living room. Once her mind eased her back into reality, she felt her left hand hurting once more. That would have to wait. She was more concerned with her looks. Angela knew her hair had changed. She could sense it. She didn’t need a mirror to know that it was now both blonde and black, with the two colors interchanging in a vertical pattern.

 _I’ve got to fix it before someone sees me like this. The only way is to mediate but it’s too risky here._ A solution was quickly reached. _The lake. I could walk there in five minutes and mediate. Even if they notice I’m gone, I should be done long before they find me._

Angela threw the blanket off her, got up and opened up her backpack, which was still on the floor. She quietly pulled out her gloves and slipped them on. She then proceeded to pick up her pack and walk to the front door in near silence. Once outside, she closed the door slowly and made her way towards the lake. The sooner she fixed her appearance, the better.

Little did she know that a friendly droid had been alerted out of its standby mode by motion in the living room. BB quietly observed Angela leave without so much as a whisper. The droid thought it highly unusual and concerning. He decided to act like he had been told to.  


	19. The Fated and the Destined

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "When destiny calls, the chosen have no choice." - Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~Water Wars~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoooo! I'm hyped! Sorry this chapter took so long to come out. End of semester and a new job at peak season (I handle mail packages). So, I thought that no matter what I would finish the next chapter on the day The Last Jedi released officially! 
> 
> Please leave me reviews and PMs about your feelings after The Last Jedi and this chapter too!
> 
> ~TheJediAvenger~

Angela had finally reached the hidden lake. By the time she did, the morning sun had just begun to rise. However, due to the large mountains that kept the lake hidden, it was just beginning to feel like the brink of dawn. A faint fog had settled on top of the lake’s still waters, giving the whole area a rather mystical tone.

Angela quickly spotted the place where they had placed their picnic and chose it. She sat under the large tree, leaning her back against its thick trunk.

“You got this. Just like last time.”

She closed her eyes and focused her mind on the energy within her. She could sense the Dark Side had slipped in and balanced with the Light. The Darkness was the last thing she wanted to feel. Angela had seen just how destructive it was and she never wanted it to be controlling her thoughts and actions. She had to go completely back within the Light.

Her mind focused on the Light in and around her. It was now only a matter of the Light pushing out the Dark.

* * *

The Knights of Ren had landed within the deep jungle of Yavin 4. All of them had their weapons at the ready, masks on their faces, and exited the ship. At this point in time, they would all know their role in the plan they had set up beforehand to assassinate their target. Unfortunately, they were not acting as a unit. They each were in their own mindset about how the assignment should be executed. There was no way the team would act in accord.

Sudeac, being the leader of this mission, decided that the best option for now was a bit of separation. “In order to find the target quickly, we will have to break off into groups. Kalam and Naver. Sulihin and Songar. Myself and Ayimul. The Supreme Leader has told us what the Halva will look like. If you spot them, transmit over the short-range coms. Be certain you are not spotted. Do not engage until we are all together. It will take all of us working as one to take them down. Do **not** take this assignment lightly.” He motioned his right gloved hand in a circle. “Move out.”

They grouped up and split in opposite directions of each other.

* * *

Kalam and Naver walked in unison. As the footsteps of the other team members faded behind them, they eased up in their demeanor. Yet, they both still kept a lookout around them to ensure they would not been seen and to spot the target as soon as they were able.

“This mission will be dull.” Naver was the first to speak, his words mangled robotically by the voice synthesizer in his mask. “We should be able to just kill this Halva target however we please.”

“I agree with you.” Kalam responded. “This assignment is stealth-centered. We can’t even be spotted. I was hoping for more of a challenge.”

“May I offer a proposition?” Naver asked.

“By all means, please do.” Kalam allowed his partner to speak his mind.

“Suppose we find the target first. We could take them out by ourselves. Then, we claim to the others that the target could sense us through the Force and attacked us first. That would make the excuse of not contacting the others believable.”

Silence fell between them as Kalam thought upon the idea. It was a solid minute before he spoke again to Naver. “And if there are others with the target?”

“We could destroy them as well. After all, if we were attacked first, we must keep the mission from getting discovered. If there are witnesses that happened to meddle, they must be killed as well.”

Kalam gave Naver a single nod. “Very well. We shall go along with this if we are the first to find the target. This conversation never happened.”  

Naver returned the nod. “Indeed. It never transpired.”

* * *

 

Songar and Sulihin had been paired with one another. Songar already was treading several feet ahead of Sulihin. He didn’t want to even look at him. The fact that Sulihin had even uttered that this one Force user could kill them all had infuriated him to his core. It was an insult for Sulihin to believe that the target could take **him** out. If they would happen upon the target first, he was going to attack the target and torture them however he wished to. He wasn’t going to allow anyone to take away his right to enjoy himself. After all, they hadn’t slain a Force-wielder in years.  

Sulihin remained silent as usual. He, like Songar, was monitoring the surrounding area to find the target. He still kept faithful to the mission. However, his demeanor had changed. He was ready to accept whatever outcome would result from this mission, whether success or defeat. In a way, he was finally at peace with himself. No more conflict over the moral dilemmas or the worry of his existence after his passing. Whatever would come to pass, he was ready.

* * *

Ayimul and Sudeac walked right beside each other. Both were keeping a close eye on any movement that could be the target. Even though Sudeac wore his mask, Ayimul could tell that he wasn’t positive about the situation they were in.

“You have done well, as far as I’m concerned.” Ayimul attempted to reassure him.

Sudeac still thought otherwise. “You may think so. However, I could have done something else. I don’t know what, but if I had more time I could have had the team on the same mindset.”

“No. We were already split as soon as the Supreme Leader gave us this mission. All it took was a few choice words from Sulihin to completely break the team into several mentalities. And you know as well as I do that Sulihin never speaks unless it is something he feels is necessary to say. Not one word from his mouth has ever been useless banter.”

“Well, no matter what happens, I will follow the mission plans to the letter. I’m not surviving this. I’m going to thrive from this. And you will too.”

With no response from Sudeac, their conversation ended as they both continued their search for the target. They both wanted to find the Halva first. That way they could somewhat have control enough to keep the mission on track, something that the other two groups more than likely wouldn’t do.

* * *

Angela couldn’t feel a change in her connection to the Force. She still felt both Light and Dark within her. However, the conflict that should have been there wasn’t. It was as if the two sides had found balance with one another. She sighed as she pulled herself out of meditation. Grabbing a section of her shoulder-length hair, she moved it from behind her shoulders to see that it was still had its vertically-striped blonde and black sections.

She didn’t know what to do as she leaned against the large tree and gazed out at the lake. The morning light was already shimmering on the still waters. The forest creatures were far off in the dense jungle going about their day. The weather was clear above, but now lingering near the mountains were several dark storm clouds, which threatened to block the morning sun.

_Why can’t I just go back to being able to block out the Dark? I’ve been able to do it before. Ever since those dreams though… This is bad. How exactly do I explain this to Finn and Poe? “Oh yeah. I colored my hair during the middle of the night. It looks pretty awful, but I was never very good at coloring pages, let alone hair.”_

_That sounds bad. Really bad. But I can’t tell them the truth. No way. I need to figure something out soon or else they are going to come looking for me._

“Ang?”

As if the galaxy had it out for her, Poe called out several yards behind her. Angela would have sensed him coming if she had still been meditating, but now she had to act quickly to hide her changed appearance.

“Damn it. How do I always jinx myself at the worst times?” She quickly took off her denim jacket and laid it over her head, creating a makeshift hood just open enough to see a sliver of the world.

It was just in time too because Poe walked out from the jungle path and onto the edge of the lake. He spotted Angela sitting where they had been yesterday, under the large tree.

“There you are.” He calmly walked over to her, already seeing that she had taken off her jacket and placed it over her head, leaving her torso covered in her white, long-sleeved shirt. “What are you doing here this early in the morning?”

“I just wanted to get out for a bit. Is that a problem?” The tone in her question was both spiteful yet earnest.

“No. Not at all.” He answered before he sat down next to her.

“Then why come out here?”

“BB-8 was worried. He saw you leave and woke me up so that I could find you and ask what’s bothering you.”

Angela knew, just by the tone in his voice, that he genuinely cared about her. It was something that had never been felt by her before. It stung a bit as she made a quick lie. “Nothing is bothering me.” She couldn’t see Poe through the jacket but, if she could, she would have seen him look at her with a pitiful smirk.

“Really now? Because from where I’m sitting, I see someone who doesn’t want to look me in the eyes and say that nothing is wrong.”

_Damn him. Why can’t he just leave be me until I can fix this?!_

“Listen, whatever is troubling you, I’m here for you. You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong or explain yourself right here and now. But I just want you to know that whenever you want to talk to someone about it, someone who promises not to tell anyone about it, you have me.”

Angela gave in. There was no way she was going to be able to meditate like she had in the past to get rid of her hair change. Plus, like Poe promised, it would be kept between the two of them and he wouldn’t ask about it. There was still the matter of Finn, but she knew that he would do the same thing Poe promised once he was given an explanation.

Angela lifted the jacket off her head. She could feel Poe’s shocked gaze on her as she put her jacket back on. She looked him in his chocolate-brown eyes. “Something is wrong. I just can’t…explain it to you.”

“Does it have something to do with your hair being two colors?”

“Hey. You said I didn’t have to explain anything. Remember?”   

“Right, right.” Poe stopped himself from asking the many questions running through his mind.

“The answer is yes. The thing that is bothering me is related to my hair.” Angela gave him the answer he wanted. “That’s the only question I’m answering.”

“That’s fine by me, as long as it fine by you.”

For the first time that morning, Angela cracked a smile. “Thanks.”

Poe stood up and offered his hand to help her up as well. “Ready to head back?”

She took it and helped herself up to stand too. “I suppose so. How am I going to explain this to Finn and BB though?”

“Just tell them that you don’t want to explain it, but be sure to tell them not to worry and that you’re fine or else they will.” Poe said.

Angela nodded. “I can do that.”

Poe began to take his hand back but felt Angela tighten her grip on it. He didn’t fight it. He willingly tightened his grip around hers as they started their trek back to his house.

“Let’s go.” She said eagerly. “The sooner we back means the sooner we start working on my fighter.”

Poe raised a questionable eyebrow her way. “Not before breakfast.”

“Breakfast?”

 “Yeah. Breakfast. The meal you eat in the mornings.”

“I know what breakfast is. But don’t most people just skip it?”

Poe was a bit taken back. “Not if you’re in the Resistance.”

A victorious smile found itself onto Angela’s face. “Ha. I’m not part of the Resistance. Therefore, I can skip it.”

“Well, I’m not going to force you.” Poe gave in. “I, however, am going to eat every bit-“

Angela stopped walking in an instant. It nearly threw Poe off balance since they were still holding hands, and he had walked ahead until their handholding abruptly stopped him in his tracks. She felt something off. Something that was getting closer to the two of them. Her instincts told her to take out her lightsabers out of her backpack and ignite them. She couldn’t though. Poe was with her.

“Hey.” Poe looked at her, noticing her eyes dart all around them as she turned to look in every direction. “What’s wrong?”

“Poe. Did you come in your speeder?”

“No. I walked here. I thought that I would give you some time alone to think before I found you.”

Just within the jungle, a rustling of foliage could be heard by them. They also knew that it wasn’t a small animal. It was unnatural. Something that didn’t belong. It had its sights sets on both of them, more so on Angela.

Poe didn’t get an answer and asked again, this time walking around to stand directly in her line of sight. “What’s wrong?”

She didn’t have a direct answer for him. The darkness that was rapidly approaching them didn’t have anything she recognized about it. “I don’t know. But we need to-“

Her words ceased. A cloaked figure had jumped out of the jungle and lunged towards Dameron with two metal cutlasses. Angela reacted by pushing Poe out of the blades’ path before dodging the attack as well. Oh, how she wanted to take the lightsabers out of her backpack and take on the intruder. She immediately changed the number of intruders from one to two when another attacker, dressed like the first, stepped out of the jungle holding a heavy-duty battle-axe.

She gave Poe her hand, which he quickly took to pull himself off the ground. “You alright?”

Poe nodded. “Yeah.”

“You soon won’t be.” Naver, the one wielding the cutlasses, possessed a devilish grin under his mask.

“Hold on.” Kalam threw his arm out in front of Naver, not wanting his partner to miss a crucial detail. “Do you know who he is? If I remember correctly, he is the Resistance fighter the Kylo Ren interrogated months ago.”

“You’re right. And if he is here, then the Resistance must be close by.”

That was it. Angela knew that she couldn’t let them leave alive. If one escaped and got back to the First Order, the Resistance would be in danger. She would need her lightsabers and the Force in order to defeat the both of them. Her true self would be shown to Poe. She was going to have to attempt to sort out the revelation later. Right now, her skills were needed, and she was not going to let this tragedy happen.

“Ang.” He grabbed onto her wrist. “Run.”

She twisted her arm out of his grip and proceeded to take off her backpack. “No, Poe. You run. Head back to the base while I take care of these two.”

“Are you out of your mind?!” Poe attempted to take her hand again and force her to run with him. Before he had a chance though, she had already something in both her hands.

Angela let the backpack fall the ground with a thud. _No going back._ Then, she ignited both her lightsabers in unison. The blue blades came to life with a hiss.

“So,” Naver’s voice was altered by the mask. However, the bravado was still heard by everyone around. “Not only do we know that the Resistance is here, but the target has just confirmed their identity. This mission just became exciting.”

Kalam seemed to ignore his partner as he pointed to Angela. “I claim the target. You can have fun with the flyboy.” His words hoped to start the fight. If the target would make the first move, both of them could read how their target fought and could have as much with torturing her without any harm befalling them.

“Get out of here, Poe.” That was all she told him before charging towards the two Knights, lightsabers out in front of her and her mind centering in on the battle. There was no way in hell that she was going to let the Knights hurt Dameron or get the word back to the First Order about the base. That was a risk the whole galaxy could not afford.

Poe was frozen in place. His mind was trying to make sense of everything that had happened within the past minute. It was a lot.

_She...she’s a Jedi?! How? Why? And these two…Are they the Knights of Ren? They must be. I got to help Ang. But how? I don’t even have my blaster on me. It will take too long to run back to get it. I can’t just leave her here._

Angela managed to shove both of the Knights back before she shouted back at Poe. “I’ll be fine. Go!”

That was all Poe needed to hear for him to act. He turned and ran. He ran as fast as his feet could carry him. He had to make it back to his speeder at home. Then, he could drive it back and help Angela. He could even get BB to go to the Resistance base and tell General Organa about the situation.

Poe’s leaving was taken in by the Knights. It was a problem. If word got back to the Resistance of their presence, it would shorten the amount of time they had to finish the mission. Then again, both Knights believed that they wouldn’t need that long.

Kalam adjusted his grip on his axe. “Make this interesting, will you?”

The two cutlasses Naver held were ready to taste blood. “Yes, please give it your all.”

Angela glared at the Knights. She swung her lightsabers in a circular motion beside her. No words left her mouth. She was going to remain silent, focused, balanced. All the training that she endured. Every technique that combined her saber skills and Force abilities. It would be implemented. She would not hold back.

She slashed at the two Knight, reinitiating the attack between predators and prey.

* * *

The sound of his breathing was the catalyst to Finn waking up. His eyes slowly opened as he gathered the energy to push himself upright in bed. The pain from his injuries had nearly disappeared. A grin of satisfaction rose to his face as he continued getting out of bed and dressing for the day ahead, which he anticipated to be a normal, average day.

Once dressed, he left the room and entered into the kitchen. Food was the first thing on Finn’s mind. As quietly as he could, he rummaged around and found a few sweet snacks to munch on. “Heh. Heh. Score.” He unwrapped one, chewing it up as he walked into the main room of the house.

His eyes fell upon the open door and BB-8 rolling back and forth in the doorway, as if he was waiting nervously. One look back at Poe’s bedroom door being open gave him all the information he needed to start a conversation with the droid. “Hey BB.”

 ** _“Brrreeee-eee.”_** The droid responded without taking his field of view from outside the home.

“Where did Poe go off too?”

**_“Tee-eee-eeep.”_ **

“Ah. Then, why are you acting so nervous about? It’s not like they will get into trouble or anything. They’ll be back soon.”

BB-8 didn’t respond but kept rolling back and forth in the middle of the doorway.

Not wanting to ask the droid to move, Finn stepped over BB to go out and lean against the front of the house. He wanted to enjoy his snacks while breathing in the clean air and gazing around at natural scenery. Once outside, he opened up another snack and began munching on it. A few torn wrappers and fifteen minutes later and Finn was on the last bite of his snacks. _This is going to be a good day._  

“Finn!”

Finn’s gaze snapped to Poe, who was running as fast as he could towards his direction. He knew something was terribly wrong and ran from the house to meet Poe just past the land speeder.

“Poe, what’s wrong?”

As Poe went from a run to a full stop he was trying to catch his breath. He didn’t have time to waste. Angela, with the possibility of the Resistance base, was in danger. First, he had to warn the base. “BB.”

By this point, BB had already rolled over to Poe, inquiring what he could do to help his friend.

“BB, I need you to get to the base. Find General Organa and tell her that there are at least two Knights of Ren here on Yavin. The First Order may be nearby as well. She’ll know what to do. Go!”

Although the droid wanted to ask exactly what was going on, he trusted Dameron and headed immediately to the base to complete the task.

Once that was done, Poe finally addressed Finn. “Finn, I’m going to need your help.”

“Let’s go.”

Poe nearly jumped into the pilot’s seat of the speeder as Finn climbed in beside him. “There should be a rifle under your seat.”

Finn reached under the seat and felt the stock of the rifle. “Got it.” He pulled it out and prepared himself as Poe ignited the engine and headed back towards the lake.

“Finn, I don’t have much time to explain the details, but I think Angela is a Jedi.”

Finn didn’t believe what he had heard. “Wait, what?”

Poe’s sight never left the path that he took with the speeder. “I don’t know. I didn’t see her use the Force but when the Knights attacked us, she took two lightsabers out of her backpack and stayed behind to hold them off while I ran for help.”

In all honestly, Finn didn’t have a proper response to what Poe just said. It was hard to accept but he did. Poe wouldn’t have a reason to joke around with him, not like this and not to this degree. He prepared his mind as he took the rifle off safety.

Finn opened his mouth to give his friend some words of encouragement. Something along the lines of ‘Well, she’s a Jedi. She can hold them off until we get there’. However, he was cut off by the speeder being struck from behind.

Poe tried to bring the speeder under control of its swaying, but it overpowered his control. The speeder was going so fast at the time that the sudden blow to its backside caused it to overturn, throwing both its occupants from their seat then rolling off the pathway, striking several trees bordering the path.


End file.
